


The Crooked Kind

by Simon_Northcote



Series: Zutaraang Week [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (it's very minor though and it's not related to any of the main characters), Airbender zuko, Angst, Bisexual Aang, Bisexual Zuko (Avatar), Element Swap, F/M, Firebender Katara, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Multi, OT3, Other, Polyamory, Prompt: Element Swap, Role Reversal, Self-Esteem Issues, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zutaraang, Zutaraang Week, zutaraangweek2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-16 01:16:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 52,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21262703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simon_Northcote/pseuds/Simon_Northcote
Summary: History and the pass of generations can lead to the most unexpected events. The world hasn’t always been as divided as it is during times of war and sometimes drop of foreign blood can reach a child decades after it was shared. Sometimes the son of the Fire Lord happens to be the great-grandchild of the last Avatar, and the element he bends is not the one that belongs to his nation. Sometimes a child of the frozen tundra discovers a painful secret in the flames that are born from her fingers, and she feels like a monster because of it. Sometimes the last hope for the world winds up finding himself with two particular children who are desperate to be worthy of love, to the point they would die for it. And seeing tem hurt makes him hurt.But sometimes, they can also have each other, and learn to be okay.





	1. Watermark

**Author's Note:**

> This took me so long and it's not even finished yet! Okay, this is the great project I've been taking about. Element Swap AU! The 5th prompt of Zutaraang Week, 2019. I love these kinds of AUs. I love to see a character in a completly different situation than their canon situation, especially in an universe like AtLA, where there are so many different combinations and possibilities.  
So here I present you: Firebender!Katara and Airbender!Zuko, but with a little twist: they still belong to their respective canon nations. Which is perfect material for PAIN.  
I originally planned to write this as a LOOOOOONG One-Shot, but I realized I wouldn't finish it for November 1st, so I decided to divide it into three long chapters. I think this will give me more freedom to write everything well fleshed out.  
(Aang's still the Air Nomad Avatar btw).  
Honestly, I don't know where to start! I have so many things to say about this! I loved writing it so much! I hope I did a good job. This first chapter may not be very Zutaraang-heavy but just you wait for Chapter Two: "Sing For The Wind" (which will be posted SOME DAY. Definitely not within this year's Zutaraang Week, but hopefully during the month of November). Nu nu, this chapter is for plot stuff.  
I hope you guys like it! Don't forget to comment!

_“You were carved out of the sea_  
_Watermarked by your ancestry_  
_ In a tug of war between the tide and me_  
_ What felt like loss was a victory_  
_ Cause you were swept ashore like bottles holding prayers_

_You were carved out of the earth_  
_Safe and sound in your second birth_  
_ Gravity has tied your ankle to the shore_  
_ As a lighthouse tamed the endless ocean war_

_Against the calming light our silhouettes are changing shape  
The stories you've been told have made you brave”_

–“[Watermark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDDYCT6XKoI)”, by Sleeping at Last.

火

When Katara’s mother was pregnant, she knew almost instantly that her child would be a bender.

She felt… strange. Not much better or worse than she had felt the first time she’d been

pregnant. Just different. Strange dreams visited her every night. Dreams of spirits. She found the cold of the tundra didn’t bother her as much, and her husband, Hakoda, mentioned she felt warmer than usual. He worried she may have a fever. He was always so attentive. And when she looked at the Southern Lights one winter, with her mother’s hands on her stomach where the new little life was, she saw a glint of red, a glint of purple in the sky. Her mother observed the light with her. Full of light and full of energy and courage and love. And they knew there was hope for the Southern Waterbenders.

The Fire Nation could never kill them. Not really.

When Katara was born, Kya felt like the warmth was ripped out of her and handed to her in a bundle of furs.

Katara was smaller than her brother. She was so tiny, she could be held with only one arm. And the family was flooded with the greatest love. Even tiny Sokka, who was still too young at one year and three months of age, to understand what was happening. All he knew was that the little bundle of warmth and furs was his sister, that he was meant to protect her and that he loved her very, very, very much.

And he knew that this love was unbreakable. Ice or fire, nothing would make him stop loving his little sister. Not even monsters.

火

Katara observed the iceberg.

She stared into the ice and her reflection stared back. A cold surface. It was just water.

_“You must be one with the water” _Gran-Gran had told her, as if reading off a waterbending scroll from the Main Igloo. She didn’t have to. Katara had memorized them all before they were burned during the raid. _“You must flow with it as if it’s part of yourself”_

Katara placed her bare palm on the ice. She should be able to feel a connection. She should be able to feel _something_.

Nothing.

Ice was only ice.

And inside the ice, there was a boy. A boy trapped in the iceberg, with a gigantic creature curved around him. He looked like he was sitting cross legged, with his fists close to his chest and against each other.

She needed to break him out, to get him somewhere _warm_— but ice was only ice and it did not respond to her. She pressed both hands against the cold surface.

_“Melt”_ She mentally begged. The cold made her hands numb. _“Just melt. Just let him out of there”_

Her heart was beating faster. Somewhere behind her, Sokka was yelling at her to get away from _that thing_. But Katara couldn’t leave the boy frozen inside the iceberg. She needed to _get him out_.

A crack.

A noise like a glacier breaking into pieces. A crack ran from her hands across the ice. And another crack. And another. She pressed her hands harder and more cracks appeared. The ice started to fall apart.

“Did you do that!?” Sokka exclaimed. Before Katara could reply, the cracks started to expand on their own and the pieces of ice fell at an alarming pace.

She moved away just in time to avoid being hit by the ice. And just in time for Sokka to protect her with his body from the gust of wind that hit them. She closed her eyes tightly and focused on that little spark of warmth and energy she had found with her hands against the ice.

_Melt_.

The next time she opened her eyes, she saw a boy stand from among the ice.

風

Unlike Katara, people thought Zuko a non-bender for most of his childhood. When his mother gave birth to him, she didn’t feel the warmth that was often described by mothers of firebenders. When he was sent to a firebending master under the assumption he just needed a little push, nothing came out of his hands. Nothing that was visible, at least. Nothing that sparked light.

But Ursa knew. She knew ever since she was a young girl and her mother told her about her grandfather, Avatar Roku. Her husband expected that the Avatar’s blood in her veins made their bloodline strong and powerful. Strong and powerful firebenders, that is. But Avatar Roku didn’t come from a family of firebenders. The family legends said that his parents were non-benders, and that one of his grandparents was an Air Nomad.

It was a secret known only by the Avatar’s family, of course. A Fire Nation Avatar who didn’t have full Fire Nation blood would be a shame and a disgrace for the Nation. Especially if said blood was Air Nomad blood. No Avatar who had children before had ever had a child who bent any element but their own native element. People had no reasons to think the Avatar’s granddaughter would give birth to anything but a firebender, or a non-bender, in the most unfortunate of cases. No one had any reason to believe the Fire Lord’s son marrying the Avatar’s granddaughter could have any negative consequences.

But Ursa always knew that any child that ever came from her would be in danger. She still had no right to refuse having one. As the princess and, later the Fire Lady, it was her duty to raise a strong heir.

_(She never let them know. She swore to Agni and to all the Fire Nation spirits that she would _never_ let them know. She would never let them hurt her son)._

All her fears were confirmed when she watched her little boy practice firebending and everything she could feel were the gust of wind tangling her hair.

火

The Fire Nation warship crashed into the village walls as if it was nothing but mere snow. The soldiers came down in their Fire Nation armors, with masks that looked like skulls.

Katara stood in front of the Avatar.

The Fire Nation Prince then walked up to the village. The elders and the children backed off in fear.

His left eye was scarred by an ugly burn. He was carrying a broadsword in each hand. It was common knowledge that he was a non-bender. One strike was all it would take to slit a throat…

“Where do you have him?” He demanded to know. “I know you’re hiding him!”

He stabbed the left sword into the snow and then grabbed Gran-Gran. He dared to lay his gross Fire Nation hands on Katara’s grandmother.

“He must be about this age” He explained, insulting Gran-Gran by suggesting she was over a hundred years old.

Sokka charged in that moment. With his warrior face paint and his spear, he ran towards the Fire Prince with a killer rage. It took only two strikes of the swords to destroy the spear and knock Sokka to the ground.

He held his swords again and advanced towards the elders. He brandished the blades dangerously close now.

“Where is he!?”

“I’m here!” A little voice called. Katara turned around to see Aang making his way through the elders and the children in front of him. “If I go with you, do you promise to leave them alone?”

The Fire Prince nodded. The Avatar was all he wanted.

But Katara wouldn’t let him take him.

“Aang!” She insisted. “Don’t do it!”

“I’m sorry, Katara” He apologized. “It’s going to be okay. I promise”

The Fire Prince grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the boat.

Katara wouldn’t let him take him.

She ran towards him and tore his hands off Aang. He tried to knock her away, but she evaded his strike. The soldiers were now advancing towards her.

“Katara, no!” Aang protested. “It’s okay!”

It was not okay. The Fire Nation would never take anything or anyone away from her ever again.

She charged again. He blocked her with his swords and knocked her down, but she got up before the soldiers could touch her. A hand gripped her arm and she squirmed away from the touch. The Fire Prince pointed his swords against her.

“Katara! Please!”

Not again. Not _again_.

She attacked once more. Unarmed and only with her fists against a pair of broadswords.

How dare they hurt them like that? How dare they take everything away from her? How dare they take her mother and her father and the last hope of the world?

A little spark. An immense warmth, then heat, Burning heat and red engulfing her. A scream.

She would make them pay.

She bent the fire against the Fire Prince, punching into the air. Something sharp and merciless like a scream ripping out of a throat.

How dare they!?

The fire burned her hands. She touched something. Her heart picked up when she heard the Fire Prince give a pained cry.

He held his swords up once again and brandished them in her direction. But instead of metal, what hit her was a gust of sharp polar wind that struck her like a train and tossed her away like a ragdoll.

She hit her head against the ground. For a second, she couldn’t see anything. Her skull throbbed painfully. She raised her head just to see the Fire Prince dragging Aang away, into his warship.

What had he done?

Was he a bender after all?

What had he _done_?

It took her a moment to recover. She had to get back on her feet alone. No one helped her up.

The people she grew up with stared at her from a safe distance.

Wait.

What had _she_ done!?

“Katara…” Sokka said. His eyes were wide and full of fear. “You’re a firebender”

At first she thought she hadn’t heard it right.

“What? I’m not…!”

No. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t be a firebender. She couldn’t be one of _them_.

She looked at her hands. They were covered in painful blisters. From touching fire. _Her_ fire.

She looked at the elders and the children. She looked at Gran-Gran. They were staring at her with hands over their mouths and eyes wide open, backing away slowly. The elders pushed the children behind them.

They were _scared_ of her.

She was a firebender.

風

“I knew there were other airbenders around!” the Avatar exclaimed. “You know, Sokka and Katara said we were gone, but they were wrong”

“Shut up” Zuko commanded, clenching his fists. His arm still stung from the fire despite the bandages. On his right hand, he held the Avatar’s staff.

He shouldn’t have airbent.

_“What’s the first rule, Zuko?”_ His mother asked.

_“Never airbend”_ Little Zuko replied. He knew it by memory.

_“Exactly. Not even in private. Not even when you’re certain no one can see you”_

He shouldn’t have airbent.

His crew didn’t know. Uncle Iroh didn’t know. He had managed to hide it for three long years.

Had they noticed? Could they have pinned it to his own strength, to toss the girl ten feet away with his just his arms and his swords? Would the idea even cross someone’s mind?

The girl. She was Water Tribe, but her bending…

The Avatar looked around curiously. He had his hands tied behind his back. They were going down a hall, with Zuko behind the Avatar and forcing him to walk towards the cells. Completely alone.

“Why are you working with the Fire Nation?” He inquired. “I know I don’t look like it, but I’m a hundred and twelve years old. I just spend the last hundred years in an iceberg! The world really has changed”

“Trapped in an iceberg” Zuko repeated. “So that’s where you’ve been hiding”

“What? No! I wasn’t hiding!” The Avatar protested. “I didn’t want to get trapped in an iceberg! It was an accident! We got caught in a storm and—”

“I don’t want to hear it” Zuko cut him off, trying to remember what his father would say in a similar situation.

He was taking him to the cell they had reserved _just_ for him. That was where they would keep him until they reached the Fire Nation.

He had the Avatar.

He had the _Avatar_.

He could finally go home.

“So” The Avatar continued. “Where are the other Air Nomads? We can’t be the only ones”

Zuko didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help but glance at the glider.

The weight felt so… natural on his hand.

_“What’s the second rule, my love?”_

_“Never let anyone link me to the Air Nomads” He replied. “Mom, what does that mean?”_

_“It means no one can ever suspect you have any association to the Air Nomads. Don’t read about them. Don’t talk about them. Don’t think about them. You are _not_ an Air Nomad, Zuko”_

“I’m not an Air Nomad” Zuko corrected him.

“Sorry. I forgot there are airbenders in all nations. We’re _everywhere_”

“Not anymore” Zuko said. “The Air Nomads were wiped away a hundred years ago”

“What?” The Avatar stopped in his tracks. “No. It can’t be”

Zuko continued walking and accidentally ran into the Avatar. He had stopped dead on his tracks.

“No” He repeated. “No, no, no!”

Zuko was invaded by an unexpected wave of pain and sympathy and shame, but he quickly pushed them down.

_“And the third rule?”_

The Avatar fell to his knees. Zuko walked towards him.

He was _crying_.

When the Avatar raised his head, his eyes and tattoos were glowing blue.

_“Zuko, what’s the third rule, love?”_

Zuko had only a second to form a shield of air to protect him from the strike.

The ship shook. Something hit his head. Zuko tried to stand up.

He was met by emotionless glowing eyes. By glowing arrows.

He tried to force another shield, but it was useless when he was thrown through a door at the end of the hall and onto the deck.

He unsheathed his dao swords. He tried to defend himself, but he didn’t know how. He didn’t know how.

_“Always remember…”_ He stuttered a little. The Avatar advanced towards him. _“Always remember this is not part of me”_

The words had hurt for reasons he did not understand. Saying the truth was not supposed to hurt this way. It was not supposed to feel like a lie.

Next thing he knew, the Avatar had gotten out of his grip and his flying bison was soaring away into the horizon.

火

Katara didn’t talk much that night.

Aang didn’t understand what made her so upset. Her hands were shaking and she looked on the verge of tears. Sokka was visibly uncomfortable, too.

They soared the night on Sky Bison back.

It was just like the old times!

No one seemed to be able to fall asleep, and they still had a long way until the Southern Air Temple—what the Fire Prince had said couldn’t be true!—, so Aang decided to ask Katara about it.

“Hey, look! I came back in one piece! I told you nothing would happen to me”

“This isn’t about you, Aang”

Aang snapped his mouth shut. He thought she was worried about him being taken. He couldn’t remember anything that could make her upset. Had anything happened while he was gone?

“Hey” He tried a more serious tone. “What’s the matter?”

Katara pulled her knees to her chest.

“It’s nothing”

“Of course it’s _not nothing_!” Sokka countered. “You’re a _firebender_!”

Katara flinched. He said it as if it was a big curse.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a firebender” Aang said. The two siblings looked at him as if he had just said there was nothing wrong with murder. “One of my best friends, Kuzon, was a firebender, and he was the nicest person I knew!”

“Things have changed since the last hundred years, Aang” Katara said. “I was supposed to be a waterbender. My parents knew I was a bender, but…”

“You’re a firebender. How can you be a firebender?” Sokka repeated, growing frantic. “Do we have any firebending great-grandparent I was never told about!?”

“Oh, like you don’t know”

Aang didn’t know what she was talking about at the moment, but Sokka went quiet. Some months later, Katara would share the story of her mother’s death. She would tell him about the raids and about how some of the women that weren’t killed were hurt in other cruel ways. She had the very distant memory of an old grandfather that was a little paler and looked a little more like the raiders than the rest of the tribe.

Katara, it seemed, was just a product of pain. Just like the fire from her hands.

She was a firebender.

She was like those monsters.

Sokka didn’t question the origins of her firebending after her reply. And Katara didn’t bring up the subject again.

She didn’t want to talk about it.

火

The trip to the Southern Air Temple was painful and cruel, and Katara learned that Aang was not the kind of person to allow himself to feel sadness. Just two days after finding the cadavers of his people, he was his usual cheerful self again.

Katara knew he was trying to escape from the pain, and part of her was worried. But she also knew she didn’t want to force him to hurt.

He would grieve in his own time, she told herself.

They made a stop in an Earth Kingdom coast. Katara had never been to the Earth Kingdom. She would usually be excited about visiting a new place, about traveling and meeting new people. But she couldn’t bring herself to feel anything now. Especially if she remembered the reason they were there.

Yes, Gran-Gran. We’ll get him out of there. We’ll go. Go get the Avatar and then… well, the Avatar needed a waterbending teacher, didn’t he? Didn’t Katara want a waterbending teacher as well? Except that she wasn’t a waterbender, was she? She was a firebender. Her people were scared of her. And she was too scared to go home.

“You must leave” Gran-Gran had said, handing them bags and bedrolls and food for the trip. “You’re going to need this if you’re going to help your friend. Now, go!”

She had seemed particularly adamant to get them to leave. None of the other members of the tribe said goodbye or even looked at them after the incident. Everyone was uneasy.

She struggled with a piece of flint and metal to create a spark and light a fire. Most of the branches they were using were wet. The grass wasn’t dry. There was snow on the shore and it was _cold_ and she couldn’t light a fire—

Sokka put a hand on her shoulder. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. She was a firebender.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you the other day” He said. Katara clenched her fists. “I—I freaked out, okay? I didn’t mean to make you feel worse”

“I doubt I can feel worse than I already do” Katara replied.

“Hey, there can _always_ be worse. Always be ready for everything” Sokka said it with a sort of joking tone, but his humorous attitude died out quickly. “Listen. I know this is hard for you” he said. “You feel like you’re bad because you’re a firebender and, you know, fire is a bad element. But it doesn’t have to be!” he rushed to add. “I mean, Aang is the Avatar and he’s meant to master all four elements. Does he look like a bad person to you?”

Katara looked up. Aang had somehow gotten stuck inside Appa’s mouth and Momo was trying to get him out. She gave a sad chuckle.

“I guess not” She said. She looked at the piece of glint in her hand. “What am I supposed to do now? Everyone expected me to be a waterbender”

“Right now, we have to focus on getting Aang to the North Pole” Sokka stated. “We can get you a firebending master on the way”

“I’m not sure I want a firebending master” She said, surprised that Sokka even suggested that. She realized he must have spent the last few days processing the news and coming to terms with it. “Fire is… such a destructive element. I could get someone hurt”

“So you should probably learn how to control it” Sokka insisted. “Besides, we will need all the manpower we can get, in case we run into Ponytail Guy again” He picked a map from somewhere. “Always be ready for everything”

It was too dark and too cold, and the flint and metal just weren’t working. Katara glanced at Aang and Sokka as if worried they may see her before putting down the flint and placing her hand on the unlit campfire.

What would a firebender do? Shoot fire at it?

So Katara tried exactly that. She took a step back and invoked that spark she had felt before. It half as strong, but if she clung to the inner spark tight enough and forced it brighter, she could get just the smallest flicker of a flame to catch onto the grass.

It all made sense now. Her lack of connection to water, the warmth her mother used to describe, her seemingly non-existent bending…

She’d just been looking in the wrong place the whole time.

She wasn’t sure she liked what she found, but at least it cooked their food and kept them warm at night.

風

His father thought him a no-bender.

Being a bad firebender meant you were a disappointment. Being a non-bender meant you were worthless. Being an airbender meant you deserved to die.

Zuko would take non-bender before airbender any day.

His mother thought it would be good that he took firebending classes, still. He may not be able to firebend, but learning the katas was important.

The main thing his mother wanted him to learn was _control_. Breathing exercises, patience and self-discipline. A ruffling of leaves or a scroll falling off a table could be enough to give him away to observant enough eyes. Eyes like his sister’s, who liked to analyze and exploit any weakness and any trace of humanity she could get her claws on.

So that’s what Zuko did whenever the Avatar got out of his grip again. He found him, he fought him, and then he flew away with his friends. And Zuko wanted more than anything to invoke a tornado to tear them down from the sky.

But he couldn’t. He knew he couldn’t.

_(He had to watch the airbender glide away through the air like the wind was a part of him. Like he belonged to the sky. He had to watch him on his flying bison. He had to watch him move with impossible ease and fluidity and with such a freedom—)_

So whenever he got angry, he had no choice but to follow his Uncle’s advice. Drink a cup of tea and meditate.

Firebenders mediated with candles, and the flames would rise and fall with their breathing. Zuko was a firebender— or at least he was supposed to be one— so he did what every other firebender did. Breathe in, breathe out.

The flames didn’t rise.

Breathe in, breathe out. The fire flickered when he exhaled.

_“Zuko, my love, what’s the third rule?”_

He tried to focus on the warmth of the candles. On the comforting darkness of the room.

_“Zuko, my son, I’m sorry”._

Don’t think. Don’t think. Clear your mind.

_“I’m sorry about the rules. I never meant to hurt you”_

The fire twinkled and trembled. It became brighter and it was almost extinguished.

_“Never forget who you are. Promise me that”_

Zuko opened his eyes and the fire died out. He was alone, trapped in the darkness of his room again.

火

Jet had mistaken Katara for a waterbender. He had seen her blue Water Tribe clothes and he had welcomed her instantly into the Freedom Fighter’s quarters.

Katara had been way too proud and happy to be assumed a waterbender to correct him.

“Katara, we both know this can’t end well” Sokka said to her one night. “Have you not been paying attention? This guy _HATES_ firebenders. He almost killed a guy just for being from a Fire Nation village!”

Katara crossed her arms.

“I thought he said it was self defense”

“I was there, and that’s not what happened. That’s not the point!” He lowered his voice. “What if he finds out?”

Was he serious? Was he really trying to take away the little bit of _normalcy_ she could get? Someone’s little assumption that she was not a monster?

“You don’t understand” Katara countered. And trying to end the conversation, she added: “He’s not going to find out. We’ll leave in a couple days and _nothing_ will happen”

Jet treated her in a way she had never been treated before. He held her hands and whispered things on her ear that made her blush and showed her what kissing was like. He told her she was pretty and strong and brave and Katara felt her heart give a leap whenever he looked at her.

He made her feel more human.

It was nice. Really nice. She didn’t want to lose it, and she knew what would happen if her secret came to light. So she promised herself to do everything that was possible to convince Jet she was a simple waterbender, and not a monster.

Of course, Jet found out anyways.

He asked Aang and Katara to waterbend the water from the geysers. Katara lied and said she couldn’t waterbend water she couldn’t see, but Jet put his hands on her shoulders and her heart fluttered. He insisted he knew she was capable of it, and Katara lied once again, saying she would try.

She moved her arms the way she’d seen in the waterbending scrolls from her village’s igloo, but Aang did all of the true work. Katara prayed Jet didn’t notice. Once he left, she let out a shaky sigh.

“Are you okay?” Aang asked her at some point, while he bent the water out of the geyser and into the shallow river near them. “You look worried”

Katara bit her lip. Jet wasn’t around anymore, but she kept moving her hands in a waterbending stance. She liked to imagine the water was responding to her.

“It’s nothing” She lied a third time.

Then things escalated. They finished early, they saw the Freedom Fighters installing the blasting jelly on the dam that kept the river from flooding the village— the river Aang had just filled to the edge. Then Jet came back. Jet confessed. Jet explained his plan and Jet talked to Katara about how they had both lost their families to firebenders.

“They’re firebenders, Katara!” He insisted. “Think about what they did to your mother. We can’t let them hurt anyone ever again. We must be merciless”

“We can’t do this” Katara took a step back. “There are innocent people down there—”

Jet shook his head with disappointment.

“I thought you and your brother would understand, but—”

“Where’s Sokka?” She clenched her fists. She hadn’t seen Sokka in all day. If they were willing to destroy an entire town— “Where’s my brother!?”

He tried to touch her face, but before she could get a grip of herself, she punched fire in his direction. He looked at her with the same expression as the people from her tribe.

“You’re a firebender!”

His horror turned to anger. And then to murderous rage.

He lunged for her with his swords, and the only thing she could do was to raise fire as a shield.

“I knew there was something wrong with you!”

A blade cut her arm. She gasped. Blood spilled all over her dress. She moved her hands like a wave— a waterbending kata— and knocked Jet to the ground.

“We have to warn the town!” Aang exclaimed, glider in hands.

Katara looked at Jet. He was getting up and ready to strike.

“Go! I’ll hold him back!”

Aang was reluctant, but he opened his glider and flew down the valley.

The swords hit her side without shedding blood, but the strike was so brutal it shot pain all over her body. She fell on her back and tried to kick him away. He just pressed a sword against her throat.

He was going to kill her. The boy who had been her first kiss was going to kill her.

“I can’t believe you tricked me like that!” He growled. “I can’t believe you made me like a _firebender_!” He spat the word like it was the lowest of insults. Katara felt like it was.

It was over. She didn’t know how to fight. She had a blade against her neck and all it would take would be a quick strike to kill her.

She looked around. The sword was made of metal. The memory of a tribesman forging weapons in the main igloo crossed her mind. Maybe…

She pressed her hand against the iron and tried to will it to _just burn_. The heat traveled up the blade until it reached the handle. Jet gave a pained cry and let the sword fall from his hand.

“You burned me!” He cried. Katara crawled away from him as quickly as she could.

She stood up with the help of a tree and moved her hand in a diagonal motion, sending tongues of fire in Jet’s direction. He blocked them with his swords and moved to strike her again, but she gave a turn and raised fire from the ground, like raising a river. The fire moved like a fluid and nearly engulfed Jet. He screamed.

Katara stopped. Fire wasn’t water. The simplest touch could be lethal. And she didn’t want to hurt Jet.

But she had, and now Jet was struggling to even get up. His clothes were blackened by the burning and the tips of his hair were smoking. He was coughing painfully.

Had she done that?

She took a step forward, and then a step back. Part of her wanted to help him stand up, apologize and find something to patch him up. The other part of her knew he would slit her throat at the first chance he got.

She was a firebender, after all. A monster.

Her heart was stuck in her throat. The sound of an explosion broke her out of her paralysis and down a heart-stopping wave of terror.

No…

She ran towards the broken dam before Jet got a chance to even try to chase her.

火

Sokka was alright. Aang was alright. The town was alright. Sokka had warned them and Aang had helped them get to high ground before the explosion. When they saw Katara, they rushed to hug her and Katara couldn’t hold back the tears.

Back on Appa’s saddle, Aang insisted on fixing her— she was _bleeding_ and she wanted to do it on her own. He bent the water from the waterskin to clean the gash on her arm and bandaged her, and Katara was deeply touched by this gesture. She held his hand tight after he was done.

“I’m sorry I left you with Jet alone” He said.

“It’s okay” Kata reassured him. It seemed to have become her motto. _‘It’s okay’_. “I told you to go. It’s not your fault”

“Still” Aang squeezed her hand. “He hurt you”

Katara didn’t quite know what to say. She couldn’t say she wasn’t hurt, because she was. She couldn’t say she wasn’t sad, because she had just stopped crying and she still had dry tear marks on her face. She couldn’t say nothing bad happened, because it had. He’d hated her— he wanted to kill her. Like a _monster_.

“You know” Aang continued. “Jet is wrong. Just because you’re a firebender it doesn’t mean you’re bad”

Katara smiled sadly at him.

Jet had wanted to _kill her_.

She was having a hard time believing she didn’t deserve it.

“Thanks, Aang” She said, still. His hand in hers reminded her that, even if Jet wanted to kill her, there was someone who saw her and still, still loved her. Firebending or not.

A warm feeling spread across her chest. She felt like she was about to break into tears again.

風

The Avatar was captured by Admiral Zhao. The Blue spirit broke him out. He was free again. The Blue Spirit was none of other than the prince of the Fire Nation himself.

An airbending prince, Aang remembered.

After being knocked out by an arrow, Aang dragged him to safety. He took his swords and placed them away from his reach. He wasn’t going to steal them—not at all! Zuko seemed to move with his swords the way Aang moved with his glider. They were a part of him.

Zuko was an airbender. Aang and Zuko were perhaps the last airbenders left! And… well, he wanted to be friends with him. They shouldn’t be fighting each other.

Aang examined his Blue Spirit mask. It was made of blue and white wood. It looked kinda old, but also very carefully crafted. He vaguely remembered hearing the name Blue Spirit once, and he knew it wasn’t a Fire Nation spirit.

He put the mask down and looked at Zuko. He looked weird when he wasn’t frowning. Like he was a different person.

He should talk to him when he woke up! Maybe he could see him understand that they belonged to the same people and that they needed to work together.

That was the way it was meant to be.

So he waited for Zuko to open his eyes. He looked like he was cold, so he put a blanket over him and hoped it wasn’t awkward when he woke up. While he waited, he rehearsed in his head what he was going to say to him and also made sure to keep his swords away from his reach. Aang may be a better airbender than Zuko but he was no match to iron.

When Zuko finally—finally!— opened his eyes, Aang started talking.

“I know you don’t want to be an airbender” he said. “I don’t know if you remember her, but my friend, Katara, is a firebender from the Water Tribe. And it’s been really hard for her to come to terms with it, but… I don’t think it’s a bad thing” He glanced at Zuko to see his reaction, but his face was weirdly emotionless. Angerless. “You and I may be the only airbenders in the whole world! We don’t have to be enemies. I used to have a friend from the Fire Nation, and he was one of the best friends I ever had! I think… we should work together. I could even teach you airbending if you come with us! I’m sure Katara and Sokka would understand” He stood up and offered Zuko a hand. “So? What do you think?”

Zuko stared at him for a moment. Then he gave a punch and the wind threw Aang into the air.

He jumped away before Zuko got the chance to grab his swords.

火

They found Jeong Jeong when they were visiting one of the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom. There was a festival in one of the Fire Nation villages and they thought it would be a good chance for Aang and Katara to observe firebending. It wasn’t as if they would ever find a master willing to teach them, would they?

Jeong Jeong was not, in fact, willing to teach them. Chey walked into the deserter’s hut and came out hours later with the news that Jeong Jeong refused to train an Avatar who wasn’t ready.

“Wait—what about me?” Katara asked then. “I’m not the Avatar. Will he teach _me_ at least?”

She could always master firebending and teach Aang on the road, right?

Chey’s look of disappointment shot down all her hopes.

“The Master says you should be thankful your Nation won’t encourage you to learn firebending”

He left without a word. It was clear he didn’t agree with Jeong Jeong’s words.

Aang got up with the grace only an airbender was capable of.

“I’m going to talk to him” He stated.

He walked into the hut, and the yelling could be heard from outside. Katara sat cross-legged on her bedroll, listening attentively to the exchange and feeling her heart sink deeper and deeper with every word.

“A rock will not move without a bender!” Jeong Jeong’s maniac voice barked. “But fire… Fire is _alive_. Without control, it will spread and burn everything on its path! _That’s_ the nature of fire. To consume and destroy”

Consume and destroy.

After some minutes, Aang came out of the hut with the happy news that Jeong Jeong had agreed to train him.

“That’s great, Aang” Katara said, unable to put emotion to her voice.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Aang asked.

Consume and destroy. That was her nature, it seemed.

“It’s nothing” Katara said. “You should go to sleep. You’ll need all your energy if you’re going to start training tomorrow”

Aang fell asleep quickly. Katara didn’t sleep well that night.

火

“Widen your stance!”

“But you’re not even loo—”

“Wider!”

Two hours. Jeong Jeong had been correcting Aang’s squat stance for _two hours_. He’d been standing on the same rock for _two hours_. Katara was starting to get tired of watching them.

“Concentrate!”

“But what am I even concentrating on!?”

“Talking is not concentrating!”

“But I don’t know what to concentrate on!”

Katara pulled her knees to her chest. This was going to be a _long_ day.

“Feel the heat of the sun” Jeong Jeong explained. “It’s the greatest source of fire, yet it’s in perfect balance with the world”

Katara’s head perked up. She had never thought about it that way. She kind of liked how it sounded. It made firebending sound less _evil_.

“I’m going inside now” Jeong Jeong said. He gave Aang a killer glare. “You! Stay there! Keep concentrating!”

Aang sighed out of boredom. Katara couldn’t help but giggle.

If Jeong Jeong had accepted to train Aang, he sure would agree to teach her as well, wouldn’t he? All she wanted was to have better control. Nothing about the fire blasts Aang kept talking about. And Jeong Jeong did seem to make an emphasis on learning control. She was sure they could reach an agreement if they talked about it.

She walked into the hut. It was small and empty, except for a circle of irregular burning candles. Jeong Jeong was meditating in the center of the circle.

“Master Jeong Jeong” Katara greeted him. “I was wondering if I could have a word with you”

“No” was the only reply she got. He hadn’t even opened his eyes.

Well, it looked like it would be a little bit more difficult than Katara thought. Nothing she couldn’t solve by talking.

“You see, I’m a firebender too, but I actually come from the Southern Water Tribe” She explained. “I was wondering if you could teach me a thing or two about firebending control. We don’t have a lot of firebending masters in the South”

She used the word ‘control’ on purpose, hoping that would make Jeong Jeong realize she would be a responsible pupil.

“If you really want to master control, you would go back to the Water Tribe” he said. Katara wasn’t sure of what he meant.

“What?”

“The cold extinguishes the fire. There’s not a coldest place in the world than the South Pole. I’m willing to bet your firebending was at its weakest back there”

“I actually only firebent once in the South Pole” Katara said. “I didn’t even know I was a firebender until a few months ago. Everyone expected me to be a waterbender”

“And let me guess. You got angry and your fire got out of control”

Katara’s shoulders dropped.

“I guess so” She replied. “We were under attack”

“I see” Jeong Jeong nodded. “You should be glad you come from such a place. I would go back if I were you”

Now, that wasn’t fair. He wasn’t even giving her a chance!

“We can’t go back” Katara countered. “We need to get Aang to the North Pole and find him a waterbending master”

“And you’re too scared to go back as a firebender, right?” Jeong Jeong finally looked at her dead in the eye. He cupped his palm around one of the flames of the candles. “You will never be forced to use your firebending to burn cities to the ground, or to torture war prisoners” As he opened his palm, the fire grew. “Your tribe only will have you start campfires and light torches. I don’t see why you would want to bear this curse”

“You know nothing about my tribe” Katara snarled. The flames rose higher. “We’ve been raided by the Fire Nation for decades! They took all our waterbenders and—!” Her voice cracked. “You’re just a bitter old man who’s jealous I come from a Nation that didn’t start a war”

“You are just child who thinks fire is something you can play with!” Jeong Jeong roared. “You act as if fire is something you can control, but fire is the one that controls _you_” He pointed a finger at her. “Firebending is not a tool, but a curse. It brings only pain and destruction, and it forces us to walk a razor’s edge between humanity and savagery” He let his hand fall on his lap. “Eventually, we’re torn apart” He locked his eyes with hers. “Is that something you would proudly ask a master to be taught about?”

Katara looked down, suddenly feeling ashamed.

“I guess not”

“Good” Jeong Jeong turned his back to her. “Now, leave”

火

Katara spent the rest of the day watching Aang train. She kind of hoped to learn something from it, but he was told to hold the same squatting position and to breathe for hours. Katara was breathing as well. She didn’t see how that helped anyone.

The next day Jeong Jeong took Aang to the top of a hill, and when they came back, Aang told Katara he had just been _breathing_ for hours.

“We’re not doing anything!” He protested.

“At least he accepted to teach you” Katara said rather bitterly.

It was her way to tell him to be grateful.

_Fire is a curse._

Or maybe she should be the one who should be grateful.

She didn’t sleep well those days she spent with Jeong Jeong. His constant contempt for firebending only made her feel worse. He gave Aang a leaf with a burning patch on the center, and told Aang to keep the burning from reaching the edges for as long as he could. Katara thought it seemed like a very good control exercise, and tried it herself. But she only burned the leaf to a crisp.

“You’re doing it wrong” Jeong Jeong said when he saw her. “Firebending comes from the breath. How can you firebend while holding your breath?”

Katara hadn’t noticed until then that she had, in fact, been holding her breath.

“Will you show me how?” She asked, hoping he would actually teach her something.

He looked at her for one long moment, as if considering his options.

“Breathe in through the nose” He said. “Exhale through the mouth. And sit on the sun”

Katara smiled, happy with those three insignificant instructions, and went to sit on the edge of the river.

“No firebending” Jeong Jeong warned her. He didn’t sound as angry as the day before. Katara wondered if he had changed his mind about something, or if someone had talked to him. “Remember: firebending is not something to be proud of. It’s the weapon of the worst of monsters. Don’t make me regret this”

火

Jeong Jeong would later explain:

“I acceded to teach you because you are controlled and disciplined and the Avatar is not”

Katara was holding a leaf between her hands and keeping the fire from the borders. She’d been doing this for the last five hours and the burning had barely advanced. The rhythm of her breathing was perfect and her stance was flawless. This was not at all the result of talent, but the result of hard work and dedication. Perhaps the hardest work of Katara’s life.

She _needed_ to learn to control her firebending. To keep it always buried and hidden to the point she could forget it existed and she could continue with her life.

“I will not teach you combat firebending” Jeong Jeong continued. “The Avatar needs to master all four elements, but you only need to keep your fire under control”

Katara nodded. She felt a strange and foreign pang of disappointment— she wanted to protect her friends. She wanted to _fight_—, but she quickly replaced it with agreement. Fire was dangerous. Keeping it under control was good.

“The strongest firebending is always powered by anger” He said. “If you want to control fire, you must learn to control your anger”

“But I’m not even angry”

“That’s why you’ve been doing such a good job. The Avatar, on the other hand, is impatient and gets frustrated easily, and frustration leads to anger. It is important that you two have a good grip on your emotions, before your emotions get a grip on you”

Katara gulped and glanced at the leaf in her hands. She didn’t like how it sounded, but she was willing to do it. Anything to keep control.

火

They heard things about the Northern Air Temple, stories about airbenders gliding across the skies. And these stories filled Aang with hope. Seeing his face broke Katara’s heart when he realized the people living there were not airbenders, but refugees using incredible inventions to travel through the air.

They had absolutely wrecked the temple in order to turn it into a different kind of home. Aang watched with his own eyes as they blew up the ancient monuments of his people. Sokka said they were just making the temple better. Katara asked what would he feel like if they busted into their village and destroyed their tents and igloos and canoes to replace them with steam machines to ‘make it better’. Sokka shut up about it after that.

After fighting alongside the Mechanist’s people, Aang decided they were worthy of living in his people’s temple. He said they had the spirit, and that was all that counted. But as they flew away on Appa’s back, Katara could see the sadness and the pain that Aang never allowed himself to dwell on. When she asked him about it, he said:

“I know I should be happy the temple is protecting the Mechanist and his family, but… they’re destroying a place that belonged to my people!”

“You can accept it and be upset about it at the same time” Katara told him. “You don’t have to be happy about it”

Aang was silent for some moments. It was strange. He was never silent.

“Every day there’s less and less of the Air Nomads left” his voice was grief-stricken. “Now the only airbenders left are me and… well…”

Katara couldn’t even begin to understand his pain. She could not imagine being the last member of the Water Tribes, forever alone in the world no matter how many people from other nations she befriended and loved. Her heart would never be whole.

As Aang spoke, she realized with a strangled heart that that was exactly what Aang was thinking. Or even something more painful.

“I know he hates us and that he just wants to hunt me down” Aang continued. “But I really wish Zuko and I could be friends”

Katara was invaded by a deep sense of sadness and tragedy.

Perhaps Zuko was the only person who could make Aang feel whole again.

The idea was absolutely heartbreaking.

風

_“Zuko, my love. Never forget who you are”_

He was a firebender. He was a firebender. He was a firebender.

Zuko was _not_ an airbender.

But when the boat exploded, he was thrown to merciless heights and he had an impossible fall. He would have died. He would have died. He _should_ have died.

But he didn’t die.

He survived and made it to Zhao’s ship, disguised as one of the guards.

With Uncle Iroh’s help, of course.

Zhao thought him dead. He was planning to attack the Northern Water Tribe and capture the Avatar. And if he captured the Avatar before Zuko, that meant he would never be able to go home.

So, Zuko would infiltrate the Northern Water Tribe on his own.

He put on the warmest clothes he could find and readied a kayak. The opening on the hull of the ship let in all the cold winds of the north and it froze his bones, but it was something he would have to put himself through if he wanted to find the Avatar.

Uncle Iroh walked into the small room.

“Zuko” he said. No honorary titles. No ‘Price Zuko’. Just his nephew’s name. “There is something we must talk about”

“I don’t have time for proverbs, Uncle” Zuko cut him off before he even started.

“It’s not a proverb” Uncle Iroh told him. “It’s something I’ve been meaning to teach you for a long time. It’s a technique that may save your life out there”

“I’m not a bender” Zuko lied. “Your techniques are useless for me”

Uncle took a step towards his nephew.

“I’m ashamed I never had the heart to talk to you about this. I was worried it would scare you off” He said. “But it’s time I face it: I know you’re an airbender, Zuko”

Zuko would be lying if he said he wasn’t expecting it, or that he didn’t suspect his Uncle may know something. But hearing the words tore all the air out of his lungs and made his heart drop.

He slowly turned around, ready to jump away at the first sign of danger.

But Uncle was not a danger. He never was.

“How did you know?” He asked.

“You’re not exactly subtle” Uncle explained. “There will be time to talk later. I need to show you something. It’s an airbending technique for staying warm”

Zuko didn’t question in that moment how his Uncle knew about this technique. He focused on observing how he breathed and replicating his movements. It was similar to the breath of fire he had seen him do many times. He was reluctant to willingly try an airbending move, but when he did, it came off surprisingly natural, like his lungs had been designed to do it.

It was like unlocking a padlock inside of him.

“Good, good” Uncle said. “Please, stay safe for me. I know I can’t protect you out there or keep you from leaving, but promise me you’ll come back before dawn”

Zuko suddenly felt bad for going and leaving his Uncle to worry about him. He didn’t like to think about it, but he knew why his Uncle behaved that way.

“We’ll see each other again” he promised, bowing in the traditional Fire Nation style. “I promise”

Uncle didn’t waste time with bowing. He went directly for a hug. Zuko went tense in his arms. He wasn’t sure how to respond to such a spontaneous act of affection.

“You know” Uncle said and he pulled back, hands of Zuko’s shoulders. “The reason I nag you so much is because— ever since I lost my son—”

“You don’t have to say it” Zuko tried to save him the pain.

“I think of you as my own”

Zuko tried not to let it hurt as much as it did. He hated himself for the way the words squeezed his heart and left him out of breath, even when he already knew. He knew.

He glanced at his hands. He noticed his clothes were white and grey, instead of dark red like his Uncle.

“Even if I’m an airbender?” He asked, breaking all three rules at the same time just by uttering that simple phrase. The words ‘I’ and ‘Airbender’ were forbidden from being in the same sentence.

Uncle’s eyes widened with surprise.

“Of course!” He exclaimed, scandalized. “Why would this change anything at all? You are my nephew, airbender or not!”

And, simply as that, his mother’s Three Sacred Rules were rendered useless. They were meant to keep him safe, but his mother should know better than to bind an airbender with rules and orders.

Uncle still loved him. He never wanted to hurt him. His airbending nephew. Even if he was supposed to be one of their Nation’s greatest enemies. One of the two last airbenders in the world. His people would hunt him down like an animal.

And yet Uncle opted to hug him instead.

He squeezed his shoulder.

“Now, go” He said. “You don’t have much time”

火

Katara lied to the Northern Water Tribe, of course. She told them she was a non-bender, just like her brother. They were just the Avatar’s humble escorts. Katara didn’t have a reason to go into the training arena, or to call them out for keeping women from learning waterbending, or to show any anger.

What did they mean women couldn’t waterbend!?

The piece of parchment caught fire in her hands.

“Weren’t you supposed to, you know, not set it on fire?” Sokka sarcastically remarked. They’d been given a house to stay in while Aang learned waterbending. It was a big, warm room made of ice on the outside, but it was wooden on the inside, with nice fur sleeping mats to lay their bedrolls on and pretend they were back at home in the South Pole. A couple of candles stood around the room to light the place and keep the warmth.

And Katara used every free moment she had to practice her firebending. Specifically, to practice this one specific control exercise she had learned from Jeong Jeong. It was a good way to learn to keep your anger under control. No one ever went into the hut other than the three travelers and any light that could be seen through the curtains that acted as a door could be blamed on the candles. Besides, Sokka made sure to keep a bucket full of water in the house at all times, just in case. It was the perfect place to practice Jeong Jeong’s exercises.

But how could they not let women waterbend!?

“I can’t believe this!” She exclaimed. “It’s stupid that women can’t waterbend. It makes no sense!”

“Good thing you’re not a waterbender then” Sokka said. “Why does it bother you so much? You already got your firebending homework to work on. And about that, I’d be much more worried about someone finding out about that than about some wacky waterbending rules”

“Of course you don’t understand” Katara scoffed. “And I thought Suki had taught you something”

“Hey, I did learn with Suki. I’m no longer the sexist cow-pig you claim I once was!”

“Yes, you are! If you weren’t, you would be angry about this!”

The whole scroll she’d been holding caught fire.

“Ah, great. More crazy firebending” Sokka sounded more exhausted than scared at this point. “Could you _not_ do that for five minutes?”

In that moment, a woman walked into the house through the curtains. Katara’s heart stopped for a moment. This was the first time anyone visited unannounced. She looked at Sokka.

“You must be Sokka” she said. “Princess Yue sent me to look for—” She stopped when she saw the burning parchment on the ground. “How did that happen?”

Katara was left without words. Thankfully, her brother jumped in to help her.

“My sister was playing with some sparky rocks” he said. “She had no better idea than to set the whole thing on fire! Ha ha, am I right?”

Sokka picked up the bucket of water and spilled the liquid over the blackened parchment.

“See? Nothing happened here!” He grinned.

The woman looked at them suspiciously.

“Princess Yue wants to see you” She told Sokka before closing the door.

火

Katara _did_ try to talk to the council about women waterbending, and it went as well as you’d think.

Why was this little southern non-bender girl trying to speak for waterbending women? Did she not see women were not fit for fighting? They were small and fragile, good at nurturing and too emotional to think quickly enough in battle. They were the perfect healers, and men were the perfect warriors. They made a good team. It was simple.

The southern girl didn’t seem to wrap her little uneducated mind around the concept. She spoke slow and clear and perfectly controlled, emotionless, and that made some councilmen uneasy, but the traces of her anger could be seen in the way she clenched her fists so tightly.

Women clearly didn’t know what was the best for them. Their fathers and husbands were just trying to keep them _safe_. They wouldn’t last ten minutes in combat and no one wanted to see their beloved die. Yet women were quick to throw themselves into danger, just like this uneducated southern girl was trying to do.

Yes, it was obvious women couldn’t make their own choices. If they did, they would all end up dead.

火

Sokka was fighting off the invasion with the warriors, Aang was in the spirit world Katara was the only one taking care of both Aang and Yue while the battle was waged outside.

Aang thought it would be a good idea to talk to the Moon and Ocean spirits. That meant he had to go into the spirit world. That meant he could not fight, and Katara doubted the princess of the Northern Water Tribe had a secret talent with swords. Which left Katara alone to protect them both.

Katara didn’t know how to fight, either. She just knew how to breathe and how to throw punches. She tried to act confident and convince herself that random fireballs punches could be a very dangerous weapon, but every time she thought about it she couldn’t help but fear she hit Aang or Yue on accident.

So she wasn’t confident. She was just nervous and scared. She prayed to Tui and La that no one found them.

But the spirits didn’t seem to favor her, because then a voice echoed in the ice:

“Hand over the Avatar, and I won’t have to hurt you”

The Fire Prince walked into sight. He raised his swords. Katara raised her arms.

She punched a blast of fire in his direction, and he blocked it with his swords crossed in front of him. Katara heard Yue give a terrified gasp, but she had to ignore her to block the next attack. Zuko leaped with a flying kick and a gust of air almost knocked her to the dirt.

She stood her ground. She wasn’t letting him win.

Zuko growled with frantic rage. He charged with his swords and Katara clumsily kicked the air, sending a wave of flames that made him step back.

“You’re not taking him” She said.

“I didn’t come this far to lose to you”

His swords moved in a circular motion and when Katara shot fire, it blew back towards her and she only had a second to push it to the sides and avoid being burned. She raised her hands like a wave and bent a little sea of fire towards him. He blocked it with his words again, but the force of the impact knocked him down.

And then he started kicking, spinning hysterically and making the wind spin, too. A vortex that tossed Katara against the ground like a ragdoll. When she tried to firebend, her fire was blown away. She tried to stand up, but then he was back on his feet and a strike of his swords sent her flying against the wall.

Her head hurt from the impact. It hurt so much she could barely think. Everything was spinning, Yue’s desperate screams pierced her ears and the glint of light reflected on the broadswords blinded her for a moment. Trying to get up made her muscles burn.

A ray of sunlight peaked through the edge of the glacier surrounding them. A ray of sunlight hit the metal of the broadswords and the heat filled Katara with the energy of a thousand suns.

Zuko gripped the back of Aang’s collar. He was trying to take him away.

The Fire Nation would _never_ take her family away from her ever again.

She tried to spin the way Zuko had and her kicks raised a brutal wall of fire around her. It hit Zuko dead on and knocked him away from Aang.

How dare he lay a hand on him!?

She kicked and raised tongues of flames towards Zuko. She ran her hand across the air, she punched in his direction, she invoked the force of the cruelest burning sun to _burn him_ until he couldn’t hurt Aang ever again.

She didn’t stop until she realized he had stopped moving.

風

Because the Water Tribe girl was a firebender. A filthy peasant from the Water Tribe was born a firebender.

And the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation hadn’t. He’d been born an airbender.

And if having them both be cursed like this wasn’t enough, the Spirits made sure to rub it on his face again and again. How the Water Tribe girl was a firebender and how he wasn’t. How he was born an enemy to his own Nation and to his very own crown and how she had everything he always wanted, despite being unable to appreciate it. It was the cruelest and most unfair trick they could have played on him.

They must really, really hate him.

That was his last thought before passing out.

火

Katara tied him up and left him against one of the columns of the sanctuary. She needed to keep an eye on him.

“You’re a firebender” Yue said with a weak voice. That was starting to become Katara’s least favorite phrase. “You’re a spy of the Fire Nation”

“I’m not a spy” Katara countered. “I’m as much Water Tribe as you are. I didn’t chose this”

Yue didn’t question any further. Katara was worried it was because she was scared of her.

The thought made her stomach drop. She didn’t want people to be scared of her.

火

Aang came back. Then Zhao showed up, too.

They all fought courageously. Katara charged towards the soldiers with fire and rage and terror. Aang was too busy trying to finish the fight to notice the Northern Soldiers coming to their aid.

And despite their best efforts, it was all useless in the end.

The Moon Spirit was dead.

Then Yue was dead, too.

And the Water Tribe was saved.

火

When they saw the moon turn red, eight Water Tribe soldiers raced to the Spirit Oasis, fearing for the worst.

They didn’t get there in time to save the Moon Spirit, or to save the princess. They just got in time to see the crime and the aberrations of the Fire Nation and of firebending itself.

風

Zuko woke up twice before passing out again.

The first time it was in a healing hut. They had tied him up and stripped him to his underwear and with the terrible burning pain that engulfed his body, and the memory of stories of what some of the most barbaric Earth Kingdom soldiers did to young Fire Nation prisoners, he was so terrified and hysterical that the healer, an old Water Tribe woman, had to made him chew some kind of arctic lichen to make him sleep again.

The second time he woke up in an ice cell. The pain was completely gone, they had given him new clothes— Water Tribe clothes— and when he checked his body for wounds, he found he had not a single scar from being burned.

He could have sworn he had been burned form the inside out. He remembered the Water Tribe girl. The girl who could bend fire, making the flames swallow him and sending his mind back to the Agni Kai, when he saw the fire hit his face and the pain, the pain—

He was cold, and he instinctively started breathing the way Uncle had taught him. It was like blinking. Once he started, his lungs did it in an automatic way. It felt as natural as walking and that helped him calm down for a moment. Soon, the cold receded and he was engulfed by a comforting warm air.

He wasn’t in pain, but he was terribly exhausted and he couldn’t get up no matter how much he tried. Perhaps it was the arctic lichen they had made him eat.

He fell asleep again, thinking bitterly about how much the spirits must hate him.

火 

Katara was taken to the Royal Palace and asked how she was able to fight off the Fire Prince and capture him unarmed, as a girl, as a non-bender and as someone without any formal training.

They didn’t allow Sokka or Aang to come with her. The ice from the walls had never felt so cold. Chief Arnook and his councilmen stared down at her from the ice platforms that rose from the ground. Katara was painfully aware of the empty space at Chief Arnook’s right, where Yue used to sit. The platforms were less than two feet tall, but they still made her feel small. A small firebender in the Northern Water Tribe, where firebenders were fed to the Spirit of the Ocean to be buried in the deepest depths of the dark sea.

Prince Zuko had been found tied up and covered in brutal burns. Katara had been unarmed and there hadn’t been a source of fire anywhere near the Spirit Oasis. She was also the only one around. And the councilmen were suspicious.

“Is there anything you’ve been hiding from us?” One of Chief Arnook’s men questioned. Katara swallowed. “The Fire Prince seemed to be… awfully roughed up for an unarmed non-bending girl”

“No, sir” She lied. “Zuko’s not as good as a fighter as he seems”

“Is he?” One of the men intervened. “Because he entered the fight armed with two Dao Swords, and he left covered in burns”

“Everyone knows that the Fire Prince is a non-bender” Someone added. “There’s no way he did that to himself”

Katara’s heart picked up. Had she burned Zuko that badly? She didn’t mean to…

They couldn’t find out. This wasn’t like the South Pole. Here, they were merciless.

Would they abandon her to freeze inside the tunnels carved in the glaciers? Would they drown her in the sea? Would they rip all the water out of her body with their bending?

“One of Princess Yue’s servants came to us today” Another man continued to explain. “She told us she’d seen you set a piece of parchment on fire”

“I was using flint and metal” She lied.

“Why would you do that? We made you sure you had candles in your cabin. If you were cold, you could have sat by a fireplace”

“Perhaps it’s a Southern custom” someone snickered.

Katara gritted her teeth. Deep breaths.

“And isn’t it a coincidence that the Fire Nation navy didn’t show up until they came here?” a councilman continued.

“I’m not a Fire Nation spy” Katara insisted. She crossed her arms “I don’t know what you’re talking about”

“You’re making this really hard for us, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, if that’s even your real name” The man leading the meeting said.

Chief Arnook remained silent through the exchange, staring at Katara with sadness, as if grief had swallowed his voice.

Eight men walked into the room, then. Eight soldiers.

“Sir” The first one said. They all bowed to Chief Arnook.

Katara had never seen those eight men in her life, but she had the suspicion they had seen her before.

Her stomach dropped. They gave their declaration. They described the fight in detail. They exposed her secret.

“The girl is a firebender?” Chief Arnook asked. It was the first time he talked during the meeting. 

“I’m _not_ a firebender!” Katara insisted, growing frantic.

One of the councilmen stood up.

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid we no longer have a choice”

Katara wondered what they meant, but in that moment, she heard footsteps in the ice.

She turned around just in time to see the ice daggers flying towards her. She didn’t think. She raised her arms. A flash of heat and light. The daggers were reduced to steam right before her.

No.

Oh, no, no.

She gulped.

“I knew it” Master Pakku said. He didn’t look in the least troubled for almost killing her.

She cranked her neck and looked up at the councilmen. They were staring at her with a mix of fear and disgust. Chief Arnook in particular looked like it had just dawned to him that he had left his daughter alone with a firebender. His daughter, who was now dead.

Katara felt her stomach drop.

火

“Where’s Katara!?” Aang demanded to know.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you” Chief Arnook’s voice was heavy with sadness and exhaustion. “You must continue your journey without her”

“You can’t do this!” Sokka protested. He walked up to the base of the platform— the throne— not caring in the slightest that he was defying royalty. He pointed his boomerang at Arnook. “Where is my sister!?”

Arnook sighed. He was tired. Way too tired to argue and lie and fight, it seemed. Aang almost felt sorry for him— he had lost his daughter. But then he remembered Katara had been summoned to the Royal Palace on her own a whole day ago and they hadn’t seen her ever since, and all pity was replaced by anger and fear.

“She was taken to the prison” Arnook confessed. He looked at Sokka. “Your sister is a firebender”

Aang was taken aback by his words. They knew? They had imprisoned her for being a firebender?

“I know” Sokka said.

“You knew?”

“But she’s as much Water Tribe as any of us!” He ignored him. “She didn’t want to be a firebender! It just… sort of happened! She _hates_ the Fire Nation!”

Arnook nodded.

“There will be a trial where we will determine if she’ll be free to leave” He explained. “Until then, she will stay in the prison”

“Wait!” Aang intervened. “What is she being trialed for? She didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Some members of the council suspect… They suspect that she might have played a part in the siege. They think she’s a spy”

“What!? That makes zero sense!” Sokka protested.

“But what about you?” Aang asked. “Don’t you have the last word? Can you do anything about it?”

Arnook barely seemed to process those words. He had lost his child, after all.

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do” He said. “She was last seen with the Fire Prince. They think that’s enough to start an investigation”

It was then that Aang remembered Zuko.

“Is Zuko here?”

“The Fire Prince? He’s a war prisoner” Arnook replied. “He’ll be executed first thing in the morning”

Aang’s stomach dropped.

Zuko? The only other airbender left in the world? They wanted to kill him?

“You can’t do that!” Aang protested.

“He’s the son of the Fire Lord” Chief Arnook said. His face was suddenly contorted by murderous rage. “They took my daughter! It’s only right I take their son”

Aang couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He shook his head desperately.

“You can’t kill him, because he’s an airbender!” He explained. “Please! We may the only airbenders left in the world! If you kill him, you’re no better than the Fire Nation!”

Chief Arnook’s eyes widened.

“An airbender?” He asked.

“Yes! I’ve seen him airbend before and I’m sure he can prove it!” Aang insisted.

Chief Arnook stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, as if considering his options.

“If what you’re telling me is true, Avatar” He said. “Then this information might be useful”

The way he said it only made Aang more scared.

“What are you going to do to him?”

“With all due respect, I don’t have to share my plans with you”

He dismissed them, and Aang and Sokka had no option but to recur to more extreme measures.

風

The third time Zuko woke up, it was to the sound of crying.

The sound of women crying always sent him automatically into a panicked state. He remembered that, once, a firebending servant in the Palace had accidentally burned herself and started crying out of pain until she received medical attention. It was something small and unimportant, but Zuko had raced out of his room desperate and with the heart stuck in his throat, stomach full of fear.

Maybe it was because it reminded him of all the times he heard his mother cry herself to sleep through the wall. How scared it made him.

He sat up immediately and was instantly met with the cold and the darkness of the cell. He did the breathing… thing, and it soon made him warm again.

The crying came from the cell next to his. He couldn’t see the prisoner, but he could hear her timid cries. He wasn’t sure what to say, or if he should say anything at all, or if he should go back to sleep and pretend nothing was happening. He still felt tired.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and he wasn’t sure if he had fallen asleep or not, but when he opened them again, someone was talking and holding a torch at the other side of the ice bars.

“Eat” The guard said, shoving a piece of meat into the cell. Zuko looked at it with contempt. Surely they weren’t expecting _him_, a _prince_, to eat that, did they?

The guard seemed to notice his disgust, because he added:

“Eat, because if you don’t, you’ll freeze to death” He looked at the other cell— the one with the crying girl— and said: “You too, firebender. I don’t want the Avatar to go full Koi-Monster on me”

Wait— a firebender? The Avatar? Please don’t tell him that—

“There’s been a misunderstanding” The girl said. Yep. It was Katara. The Avatar’s girl. Zuko huffed. Of course he would be locked in with Katara of all people. “I didn’t do anything! I’m not with the Fire Nation. I’m one of you!”

“That will be determined by the Council” The guard said. “Now, the Avatar seems to be really attached to you, and I like being attached to my head, so if you want to show any loyalty to the Water Tribe, _eat_”

He left without a word, taking the torch and the light with him.

Zuko probably shouldn’t say anything— he didn’t have to talk to a peasant— but his anger got the best of him.

“Why don’t you melt the cell if you’re such a _great_ firebender?” He scoffed, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Wait—they locked me up with _you_!?” Katara exclaimed, outraged. “I can’t believe this”

“I’m sorry I’m not the prisoner you were expecting” He continued. “So? What are you waiting for?”

She was a _terrible_ firebender. Her movements were pathetic. She looked like a stupid little girl waving a torch around. She’d only beaten him because of the strength of the sun.

He gritted his teeth. Of course she could draw strength from the sun, unlike him.

“I’m not taking sarcasm from you” Katara snarled. “I can’t believe you got me in jail!”

“Oh, I got _you_ in jail?”

“I wouldn’t have needed to firebend if you hadn’t tried to take Aang”

“Well, look who’s talking. The one who got _me_ in jail”

And she was insufferable, too. She just couldn’t _shut up,_ could she?

“Don’t you _dare_ put your bad choices on me. You got yourself in jail the moment you broke into the North Pole”

“You have to understand—”

“I don’t have to understand a thing” Katara cut him off. “I’m sick of hearing about your stupid honor quest”

Zuko didn’t argue further. Why would he want her to understand anything? She was just a small Water Tribe peasant. He didn’t have a reason to waste his time with her. Instead, he should look for the way to escape.

The bars of the cell were smooth and symmetrical, perfectly flawless in a way that could only be achieved with waterbending. He kicked them, punched them, ran into them— but they wouldn’t break. They weren’t even that thick. He should be able to shatter them.

When punches and kicks resulted useless, he was forced to rely on airbending.

He punched and blew air against the bars, but it only whistled between them without causing any damage.

In that moment, Katara yelled and a cloud of fire coming from her cell casted light on the whole hallway. Zuko could see that all the others cells were empty. They were completely alone.

He tried to take a look. He was curious to see if Katara had managed to melt the ice, and was already starting to run through his head all his interactions with Azula to figure out what kind of thing she would say to convince her to help her, but Katara didn’t walk out and, as far as he could see, the ice was unharmed.

“So?” He asked.

“So what?” Katara mocked.

“Fine! I don’t need your stupid firebending to get out!” He barked. “I don’t need help. I’ve always had to struggle. I can get myself out on my own”

“I didn’t ask for your life story!” Katara retorted. “And to think Aang wants to be your friend”

“I don’t need friends”

“That’s what I tried to tell him” Katara agreed, and for some reason, the words kind of hurt, but Zuko rushed to put the hurt away and replace it with anger. It was easier that way. Better. “He thinks that just because you’re the only two airbenders left you should get along. But don’t worry. Once I get out, I’ll make sure to let him know you’re just as much of a jerk as we thought!”

“I’m not an airbender” Zuko said, almost in automatic pilot.

“Of course you’re not” Katara mocked. “We’ve all seen you airbend. You can stop being a jerk about it”

“I’m not supposed to be an airbender” He insisted. He was a firebender. He was the prince of the Fire Nation. He _needed_ to be a firebender. “But of course _you_ get to be a firebender”

“Well— _I’m_ not supposed to be a firebender! Do you think I wanted this? Do you have an idea what this has all meant to me!? To have my entire tribe think I’m a monster!? After what the Fire Nation has done to us—!”

Her voice cracked.

“Your people took my mother away from me! You killed all of our waterbenders! You almost destroyed my village and now you try to take Aang!”

The next cloud of fire that hit the ice bars shook the entire prison. Zuko could feel the heat even through the ice.

“I can’t go home without the Avatar!” Zuko didn’t know why he was trying to justify himself to _Katara_, but she was outraging. “I was banished, in case you didn’t know!”

“Well, too bad for you, because I’m not letting the Fire Nation take anyone else from me _ever again_”

She didn’t speak anymore after that. Zuko was glad. He didn’t want to hear her. But he also felt a little bit lonely.

風

Zuko got visits later that day. It was none other than Chief Arnook, followed by at least six guards.

He stood tall in front of the man, but he couldn’t help but notice he had at least a head on him.

The Chief looked at him with so utter contempt. He said:

“I heard you were an airbender”

“I’m not” Zuko didn’t waste a second before replying.

Chief Arnook hummed and nodded. He made a gesture to one of his men and said guard bent the ice from the bars into water. Before Zuko could make a run for the exit, Chief Arnook walked inside the cell, and the waterbender sealed it shut once again.

The suddenly, Chief Arnook moved his arm and splinters of ice flew towards him.

Zuko raise his arms. There was a whistling in his ears. Not a single splinter touched him. When he opened his eyes, he saw the fragments of ice had dispersed and struck the wall and the corners behind him.

Well, wasn’t he smart.

“So, not an airbender, huh?”

Chief Arnook bent the ice from the bars by himself, then. He walked out and disappeared down the hall without a look.

Zuko curled into a ball and buried his face in his hands.

What had he done?

What had he _done_!?

He had just revealed his biggest secret to the enemy! The son of the Fire Lord was a filthy airbender!

He clenched his hands into fists and dug his nails into his palms.

Chief Arnook was a waterbender. He didn’t need six other waterbenders by his side. He didn’t need the protection. He just needed the witnesses.

Zuko couldn’t stop shaking. 

風

Aang and Sokka packed their things, readied Appa for the flight and silently like only an airbender and a Water Tribe warrior could, they sneaked into the prison.

The dungeons were below the palace. To get there, first you had to get inside the Royal Palace, which wasn’t as hard as the boys had feared. Aang wasn’t great at waterbending, but he wasn’t terrible either, and the walls were made of ice. Making a small opening and closing it again quickly got them down the long stairs and into the dark dungeons.

His heart was beating incredibly quickly. Were they really doing this? Were they really breaking Katara out of prison and leaving without saying goodbye when he hadn’t mastered waterbending yet?

Yep. Yes, they were.

“The whole thing is made of ice” Sokka explained. “Waterbenders can bend ice. Firebenders can _melt_ ice. It doesn’t sound like the best prison in the world”

“Let’s focus on finding Katara”

But Sokka’s deduction didn’t come at random. There were a series of halls, completely made of ice and completely empty. The cells left and right were inhabited and no sound came from anywhere. It wasn’t a prison meant to keep waterbenders or firebenders, it seemed. Maybe they took them somewhere else, or…

There were a pair of thick curtains at the end of a hall, and Aang could see the light through the fabric.

“There!” The budged Sokka. “That’s where she must be!”

He raced towards the end of the hall and pushed the curtains with excitant. He had never been so happy to see an angry firebender.

Katara was, indeed, trapped on one of the cells, and incessantly blowing fire against the ice bars.

“Katara!” Aang exclaimed. Katara stopped firebending and smiled upon seeing him.

“Aang!” She grabbed his hand through the bars. He wanted to hug her, but that would have to wait. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, we just thought we would pay you a visit” Sokka said, trying to be sarcastic, but Aang could tell his tone was forced. “Have some tea while we talk about the meaning of life”

“We came to break you out” Aang explained. “We’re leaving tonight”

“Tonight?” Katara asked. “Aang, are you sure about this? You still need to master waterbending”

“I already took care of that” Sokka replied. “I may or may not have stolen as many waterbending scrolls from the library as I could”

Wait, he hadn’t told Aang about that part. He opened his mouth to argue, but Katara simply smirked.

“I hope you two brought a key or something” She said. “I spend the last two hours trying to melt the ice but it just won’t bulge”

“I knew there was something strange with this prison” Sokka said.

“Maybe it doesn’t work with fire” Aang suggested. “Maybe it only works if a waterbender melts it”

“I saw Chief Arnook do it” Katara said.

“Chief Arnook care here?” Sokka asked.

“I’ll tell you later”

Aang took a step back and tried to wave his hands in the way Master Pakku had shown him. In a matter of seconds, he had reduced the ice to a puddle of water.

Well, that was easy.

Before he could say anything, Katara wrapped her arms around him. His heart fluttered at the contact, and Aang didn’t hesitate to hug her back. She then pulled back to hug her brother. Aang caught a glimpse of movement— there was someone in the other cell.

“Come on, Aang” Katara took his hand. “Let’s go”

“Wait” Aang didn’t move. Before Katara got the chance to protest, he made his way in front of the other cell.

He was met by the killer glare of Prince Zuko.

He was curled into a ball in the darkest corner. If looks could kill, Aang would be a dead man.

“You humiliate me again, Avatar” He said bitterly.

“I didn’t want to humiliate you” Aang said. “I’m sorry if I made you feel humiliated”

“Don’t waste your time with him, Aang” Katara put a hand on his shoulder. “He’s just an angry jerk”

She tried to take his hand and drag him towards the curtains again, but Aang pulled back.

He couldn’t leave Zuko.

“Katara, Zuko may be the only other airbender in the whole world!” He argued. “Who knows what the Council will do to him! We can’t abandon him”

“I’m sure he’s in good hands” Sokka said.

“Aang, I know this is important for you” Katara said. “But in the moment he gets the chance, he’ll try to kidnap you again. We can’t take this risk”

Aang looked at Zuko, and Zuko returned the stare. He didn’t look any less angry. It made Aang side. He had never seen an airbender this angry before.

“Sokka, do you have a rope?”

火

How he had convinced them, Katara had no clue.

But three hours later the four of them were back on Appa’s saddle, flying towards the Earth Kingdom. Zuko’s hands and feet bad both been tied back and Sokka had carelessly thrown him on the saddle like a sack of potatoes. Aang had insisted they took his broadswords, too, because he said they were just like his staff for him, and Sokka had taken over the custody of the swords. He had them strapped to his back, where he could take care of them and make sure the jerkbender, as he called him, wouldn’t touch them.

Katara wasn’t happy with having him there. Aang promised they would drop him in the first Earth Kingdom village they found. But until then, below them was only the ocean.

“We never really got a chance to talk” Aang said to Zuko. “I mean, except for that time you rescued me from Pohuai, but you didn’t really talk”

Katara’s head perked up.

“He did what?”

“Oh. I guess I never told you” Aang said with a guilty little smile. He proceeded to tell her about the time he’d been captured by Zhao and rescued by Zuko.

Katara looked at Zuko with incredulity, and Zuko looked away, as if he was ashamed.

“I couldn’t let Zhao capture you before me” He explained.

Of course.

“Well, I still mean what I said”

“What did you say?” Katara asked him.

“I offered to teach him airbending!” Aang sounded so excited it both baffled Katara and broke her heart. He looked at Zuko “I mean, I don’t think the Fire Nation has a lot of airbending masters. I think you would like it!”

“I don’t _need_ to be an airbender” Zuko snarled.

“Well, but you _are_ an airbender” Aang argued. “No offense, but air is the best element there is!”

“_Fire_ is the strongest element”

“Well, good luck with that!” Sokka mocked him. “I bet you’d be an incredible firebender”

Zuko growled. Katara laughed. It was hard to take him seriously with his hands and feet tied.

火

But a few hours later, when Zuko had fallen asleep and Sokka had passed out when he was supposed to mount guard and make sure Zuko didn’t kill them all in their sleep, Aang and Katara sat on Appa’s head, watching the moon and the ocean. The sea extended for miles and miles until getting lost in the horizon.

Katara had laughed a little at Zuko before, but now she looked serious and melancholic. Aang saw her like this pretty often, and he always tried to bring her out of that state with jokes and games— he liked to make her laugh.

“You see those clouds up there?” He asked. “I bet we can fly through them without even touching them. What do you think?”

“Whatever makes you happy, Aang”

She didn’t lift her eyes from the sea.

Well, she kind of said yes, Aang guessed, but he suspected this was one of those yeses-that-meant-no type of yeses. Sokka had talked to him about those kinds of yeses before.

“Oh!” He exclaimed. “Do you want to go swimming?”

“You go. I’m tired”

“What if we play a game? I think Sokka brought a travel Pai-Sho set from the North Pole”

“I don’t really want to play, Aang” Katara said. “I just need to think for a moment”

Aang didn’t quite understand. Did she not want to be distracted from the pain? That’s what he always did! Whenever he started thinking about the Air Nomads, he would just find something else to do so he wouldn’t feel bad. Wasn’t that what everyone did?

He thought back to all the times Katara had acted like this and he realized she never played games or had fun the way Aang did. She just… stayed sad for a while. And then she got better.

Was that what Katara needed to feel better? To be sad? Aang didn’t understand.

He did understand that whenever Aang or Sokka felt bad, Katara fixed it by talking. Maybe talking would make her happy again?

“Hey” Aang tried. “What’s the matter?”

Katara sighed.

“It’s nothing” she replied. It was a frustrating reply. One that Aang had heard many times.

“You always say it’s nothing, but I can tell it’s not” Aang argued. He realized, like an idiot, that she must be sad because she’d been imprisoned by her own people. “I’m sorry they put you in jail” he said.

“It wasn’t your fault” Katara said. “There was nothing you could have done. Well, asides from breaking me out, which you already did” she smiled at him, and Aang desperately wanted to take that smile as a sign that everything was okay and that she wasn’t sad anymore, but he could tell she was still sad and that the smile was meant for him, not for herself. He felt guilty thinking about dropping the issue when she was still feeling bad.

“Do you… want to talk about it?”

Katara liked talking to people. Would talking about it make her feel better? Aang really wanted her to feel better.

Katara looked a little taken aback by this question.

“It doesn’t matter” She said. “Don’t worry about it, Aang. Seriously. You can go to sleep if you want”

“But I want you to feel better” He protested. “Stop saying it’s fine. Tell me what’s wrong”

Katara was biting her lip now. Aang suddenly wanted to backpedal and pretend nothing had happened, but he pushed himself through it. For her.

“Aang” Katara asked. “You know where… where children come from, right?”

Aang nodded. Of course he knew where children came from. Why would Katara question that?

“So you know what a man and a woman do when they want to have a kid”

“Of course I know!” Aang was blushing furiously now. Did she think he was a little kid? “I know what… sleeping with some is”

“Well” Katara’s voice was shaking now. “The Fire Nation raided the South Pole for decades. They wanted to take our waterbenders. That’s how my mother—” her voice cracked for a moment, and the sound sent a pang of terror through Aang’s body. “Anyways, they didn’t just kill or kidnap people. Sometimes, men… forced women to… to… you know”

That was her way of begging ‘don’t make me say it’.

Th realization dawned to Aang like a bag of bricks. His stomach twisted. He suddenly wanted to throw up.

He had never thought about it. He knew it happened sometimes, and the monks always condemned it. But it had never crossed his mind that _that_ had been how it had been.

“You… you think that’s how you ended up being a firebender?” He asked timidly.

Katara nodded hesitantly.

“I mean, that’s the only way, right? How else would firebender blood reach my family?” She looked down. Her eyes were shining with tears of shame and guilt. “The only reason I’m alive now is because they raided our village and _someone_ did that to one of my great grandmothers, and it makes me feel gross”

Aang thought he understood. Kind of. The monks always told them that all children were a born out of love.

Katara thought she was born out of pain.

He couldn’t fathom just how _guilty_ she must feel about it. Even if she hadn’t really done anything bad.

“And now I’m a firebender” She continued. “Jeong Jeong said fire could… consume a person. Turn them into _monsters_. He_ s_aid something about ‘walking the edge between humanity and savagery’. And… I guess I’m scared of letting it get out of control”

Scared of becoming one of _them_. It was in her _blood_, after all.

“You’re not a monster” Aang rushed to say. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a firebender. Katara, you’re— you’re the nicest firebender there is! If anyone can prove firebenders aren’t monsters, it’s you”

Katara looked at him wide eyed before quickly looking away. It was hard to tell if she was blushing in the dark.

“Well, my sister tribe doesn’t think like that” she said. “They thought I was a Fire Nation spy”

“I know. And they were wrong. They didn’t know you”

Katara stared ahead, completely still. The tears she’d been holding for far too long started to spill, running down her cheeks to her chin. She wiped them away only start sobbing.

Aang didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to comfort people. Usually _he_ was the one being comforted, but Katara looked like she needed comforting as much as he did, so he wrapped his arms around her and let her cry on his shoulder.

“What if I’m not strong enough?” She asked between sobs. “What if I can’t do this? What if I end up hurting someone?”

“You’re not going to hurt anyone” Aang reassured her. “I promise you’re a good person. You’ve always been good to everyone”

They stayed like that for nearly half an hour, with Katara crying her heart out and Aang holding her through it. He didn’t even think about butterflies in his stomach. He just didn’t want her to deal with everything alone. He realized he should have stepped in far sooner.

Once she stopped crying and calmed down a bit, Katara pulled away and held onto Aang’s hand.

“Thank you, Aang” She said. “Really. It means a lot”

Appa flew above the calm sea for hours and the two could see the sunrise together. On the horizon, a growing patch of earth could be distinguished if you looked hard enough.

風

Zuko heard everything.

He couldn’t sleep. And he hated himself for feeling bad for Katara.

She sounded like she was in a lot of pain.

He’d always heard stories about brutal Earth Kingdom soldiers forcing themselves into Fire Nation prisoners. He didn’t know Fire Nation soldiers could be perpetuators of the same crime. He didn’t want to believe it, but it was the only possible explanation for Katara’s firebending.

Yes, he felt bad for her. He felt even worse when she started crying. He tried to push the shame and the hurt away and replace it with anger. Anger was _good_. It was strong. Shame and pity were _weak_.

But for some reason, when he made a conscious effort to get _angry_, it almost felt like he was running away from something instead of facing it, like a strong person would do.

風

“Your highness”

The messenger hawk had arrived that morning.

“Read” The Fire Lord commanded.

The servant gulped and read.

It was no mystery the Fire Nation had spies in the Earth Kingdom. All it took was the right people to share the right information in the right places. Certain Northern Water Tribe servants had heard things that they were not supposed to hear (or were they?) and the word spread like a deathly disease.

And news like that traveled like the wind.

When the servant finished reading— not quite believing what he’d read himself— the Fire Lord dismissed him, but not before telling him to send his daughter to him.

Behind him, the wall of fire rose higher, burned brighter.

_(His worthless son)._

When his daughter arrived, she bowed to him— a smart, strong, respectful and powerful firebender.

The Fire Lord stared talking. He had a mission for her.

風

They dropped him on the first town they came across. Literally _dropped_ him. Sokka let him fall on the ground with a painful thump. _Exactly_ like a sack of potatoes. He dropped his swords as far from him as he could, untied him with an incredible speed and rushed to the bison’s back before he could even get up. By the time Zuko had picked up his dao swords, they were flying away and getting lost into the horizon.

It didn’t take him more than two days to find his Uncle. He only had to ask about Fire Nation ships and tea shops and he stumbled across him on the next village.

He wasn’t sure how to respond to the asphyxiating hug he was giving him.

“Thank the Spirits you’re okay!” He exclaimed. “I was so worried about you! Come here, sit down! Let me buy you some tea”

They talked over tea. Or, well, Uncle talked and Zuko sulked. Which meant things were returning to normal.

“I had him right there” Zuko lamented. “But he escaped again”

“Maybe it wasn’t the right time” He said, pouring some tea on his cup. “I am sure you will meet again”

“I should have tried harder”

“I bet you did everything you could”

“I let them capture me”

“You were wounded, nephew”

He said it as if was an excuse.

But even if Zuko wouldn’t admit it, it was nice to be back with his Uncle.

風

Uncle took him to the house he’d been staying in for the last week. It was a really, really nice and expensive-looking house. They were in the Fire Nation colonies, after all. And he was still a general.

Zuko was too focused on the important things to enjoy the comfort.

It was the anniversary. Three exact years since he’d been banished. He’d been counting the days. Three years without a home, without a family, without honor and without the Avatar. Three years of his father thinking he was a worthless little non-bender who didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.

When in actuality, he was a worthless little airbender who was so stupid he let the Avatar escape again and again and again.

Capturing him meant proving his loyalty to the Fire Nation— his _real_ nation. He wasn’t an airbender and he was much less an Air Nomad. If he could do it, he could prove that despite his bending, he wasn’t worthless.

If he couldn’t capture him, it meant his father was right, and he was worthless. A little worthless airbender who deserved to _die_, with all the other airbenders. The most honorable thing he could do in that case would be to take his own life. He would probably do it. He would do _anything_.

He needed to capture the Avatar.

So he packed his things, he read his maps and he nagged Uncle to get ready and _move_. The Avatar was still close and they _needed_ to find him.

“Hello, Brother. Uncle”

Zuko’s stomach dropped. He turned around.

She was there, standing on the doorway. The sight of her brought all the memories of pain and fear crashing back on him. How she humiliated him, terrified him, hurt him…

“What are you doing here?” He demanded to know.

“Is that how you greet me after three years at sea? I knew sailors were uncivilized, but I’m surprised you caught it so quickly”

“Princess Azula” Uncle bowed respectfully, cautiously. “To what do we owe this honor?”

Azula smirked. The same smirk she sported when she set Zuko’s toys of fire or when she watched his father pretend he didn’t exist.

Fear was weak. Anger was strong. So Zuko got angry.

“I have a message for you” She talked to her brother. “Father has changed his mind. He’s heard rumors about a coup. Plans to dethrone him. He’s decided family are the only ones he can trust right now” Her smirk disappeared, and her face adopted a more genuine expression. “He regrets banishing you. He wants you back”

Zuko swallowed.

Father wanted him back?

“Aren’t you going to say something?” Azula said. “I just gave you great news. Don’t you want to come home?”

“He wants me to go home?”

Azula sighed in exasperation.

“I see you need a time to process the news” Azula said. “I’ll come look for you tomorrow. You better be ready by then”

風

Zuko hadn’t been this excited in three years.

He was going home! Father regretted his banishment! He— he _loved_ him! Even as a non-bender, even if he didn’t have the Avatar… He still wanted him back! He wasn’t worthless!

He wasn’t worthless.

And for a fraction of a second, he wondered… If his father could love him as a non-bender, then… could he love him as an airbender?

He shook his head. He wasn’t an airbender. He remembered his mother’s rules. They had kept him _safe_, and the most important one was to never forget being an airbender was _not_ who he was.

Being a non-bender wasn’t that bad, anyways.

He thought about this as he watched the clear sky through the half-closed window.

“Uncle, are you ready?” He asked. Zuko himself had packed everything the day before. He was more than ready!

“Zuko” He said. “I’m not so sure about this”

“What do you mean? Didn’t you hear Azula? Father regrets banishing me. He wants us home!”

“I never knew my brother to regret anything” Uncle said. “Zuko, I think we should talk about this before making any sort of decision”

“What is there to decide?” He questioned. “Are you suggesting we don’t go? What have we been trying to do for the past three years?”

“This may not be the right time” Uncle insisted.

Uncle said it was suspicious. He said that things I their family were not always what they seemed. Zuko got angry, because if his father didn’t want him back, that meant he didn’t love him and thus, he was worthless, and that scared him. He didn’t say this to Uncle, of course. Instead, he insulted him. He called him lazy, mistrustful and jealous.

How could Uncle say something like that? This was the first flicker of happiness Zuko got in three years! And he was trying to take it away from him!

So he decided that if Uncle didn’t want to go, he would go back home on his own. Never mind the haunting feeling that he was betraying him somehow. Never mind the guilt. Guilt and shame were weak.

He was climbing down the stairs to the port when he heard running behind him.

“Uncle?”

“Don’t leave without me!”

He had packed his things and was rushing to meet his nephew.

Zuko smiled. The first wide, genuine smile in a long, long time.

They were going home. Together. As a family.

And that made him happy. He didn’t need to capture the Avatar— forget the Avatar. Let him do whatever he wants. He was going home.

They walked to the end of the dock, where Azula’s warship was waiting for them. It was gigantic, far bigger than Zuko’s old ship. Just the men on the dock were twice as many as the members of his old crew.

Azula welcomed them with a smile. She called them brother and Uncle, and told the captain to set course for the Fire Nation.

“Set our course for home, Captain” her here exact words.

So Zuko and Uncle Iroh walked up the ramp. With every step he could feel his heart beating faster and faster.

He was going home.

“You heard the princess!” The Captain roared. “Raise the anchors! We’re taking the prisoners home!”

Azula’s eyes widened. Zuko’s heart stopped.

No…

Uncle struck the guards just before they attacked. Zuko pushed the Captain out of the way.

“You lied to me!”

He ran onto the deck and unsheathed his swords. Azula looked just slightly annoyed.

“Oh, come on, Zu-Zu” She mocked him. “Did you really think Father would want his airbending son back?”

No. He couldn’t. They couldn’t know that.

No, no, no!

Azula smirked.

“How long did you think you could hide it? It was obvious that there was something wrong with you, ever since we were little” She took a step towards him, not at all feeling threatened. “Don’t look at me like that. The Air Nomads were supposed to be extinct a hundred years ago. I’m just following orders”

There was a blue spark flickering at her fingertips.

“Goodbye, _brother_!”

The lighting was caught in the palm of a hand, and then it traveled through a body and was redirected towards the sky.

Uncle Iroh used his grip on Azula’s hand to push her off the deck. She hit the water.

He grabbed Zuko’s wrist and ran faster than Zuko believed him capable of, until they were far from the shore and safe from sight.

When they stopped, Zuko had to take a moment to breathe.

Sadness was weak. Hurt was weak. Betrayal was weak. The heart-wrenching urge to cry and scream because you discovered you were meant to be dead all along— that feeling was weak, too.

So he pushed all of that deep down and kept running.

風

When they finally stopped, they cut their hair. They used Zuko’s dagger. It was a gift from Uncle Iroh, back from when he was off fighting the war. An Earth Kingdom dagger.

On the side of the blade it read ‘Never give up without a fight’.

Never give up, never give up, never…

Zuko really, really wanted to cry.

He couldn’t cry. Crying was weak. So he just cut his hair. He shaved his entire head, actually. And then he remembered his mother’s second rule_—“Never associate yourself with the Air Nomads”._ The Air Nomads shaved their heads. A lot of people shaved their heads, really, but he couldn’t get the idea out of his head. So he put on a big circular hat as soon as he could. He told his Uncle it was because of the sun, but he was worried he knew the true reason.

At night, Uncle started a fire. They had packed some rice, so they heated the water and ate in silence. It didn’t fill their stomachs but at least it made them warm.

“She… tried to kill me” Zuko said.

Even the strongest dams leak sometimes.

“She knows I’m…”

He couldn’t say it. He had promised his mother…

_“Never forget who you are”_

He was a firebender, he was a firebender, he was a firebender…

Uncle put a hand on his shoulder.

“Your sister has been taught the same things as you and me from young age” He said. “And she’s loyal to your father”

His father. His father wanted to kill him. He wanted to _kill him_.

“My father doesn’t want me back”

Uncle didn’t say anything.

“He never thought I’d find the Avatar, did he?” He locked eyes with his Uncle. “He was just trying to get rid of me so Azula could have the throne”

Back when he thought he was a non-bender. Back when he thought he was just worthless, and not necessarily _deserving of death_.

It was his fault. He should have tried harder. He knew he could prove his loyalty—_never give up without a fight_. He could prove he belonged to the Fire Nation. He could prove he deserved to be by his father’s side. He could… he could…

And no matter how much he tried, he only kept failing. Over and over again.

“Zuko” Uncle said. “I think it’s time we have a talk”

風

Uncle made some tea.

“My brother is a cruel man”

“You’re talking about my father”

“He’s a cruel father, too” He took the teapot and poured some of the infusion in his own cup. “You’re right. He never expected you to find the Avatar. And he didn’t banish you for speaking out of turn”

“He wanted to get rid of me”

“He wanted to punish your compassion” He poured tea in Zuko’s cup. “Speaking up in that war meeting all those years ago was a very honorable thing. You defended life when no one else in that room would value it. And your father saw your strength as a weakness”

“Uncle, stop” Zuko almost begged. “I deserved it”

His voice was barely a whisper. Saying those words made his stomach sink. It wasn’t nice, but it was comfortable. A comfortable and addictive kind of pain. He deserved it.

“You were a child” Uncle said. He sipped his tea. “You still _are_ a child”

Zuko stared at his cup of tea without touching it.

“Even if I’m an airbender?”

The word sounded and tasted like poison.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Uncle asked, baffled. “You think there are no child airbenders? We’ve spent months chasing one across the world!”

“I’m not a child, Uncle” he said. “And even if I was, it wouldn’t matter. Airbenders are supposed to be dead”

He was sinking deeper. He blinked away the anger tears.

“Zuko…” He chose his next words carefully. “I know it may not look like it right now, but think of this as an opportunity!” He placed a hand on his shoulder. “You are _free_ now. Your father doesn’t deserve all the pain you’re going through because of him. You can be _anyone_ you want”

Zuko took in a sharp breath.

Free? He called this _freedom_?

Did his father wanting him dead made him free!?

How could he say that!?

“I’m a traitor! Do you understand that!?” He stood up suddenly. “My own father just ordered my death! I spent my whole life trying to be the perfect son and I just— I just keep failing over and over again!” He clenched his fists. “And you’re trying to tell me I’m free!?”

He kicked the cup of tea, spilling it on the ground. He barely noticed.

“I’m going to sleep now” He growled, and left Iroh alone by the campfire.

Iroh sighed. He hurt for his nephew. His broken airbending child.

“It is the beautiful bird which gets caged” he whispered, way too low for Zuko to hear him.

火

The Cave of the Two lovers was dark.

Aang and Katara had been separated from the rest. They had only a small torch to light their path through the tunnels.

Aang wasn’t worried. He was confident Katara could make a fire if the torch died out.

They found their way into the tomb of the two lovers. Their story was written in the side of their graves. Katara read it out loud:

There once were a man and a woman who were deeply in love, but they could not be together, for their villages were at war. But their love was strong, and they learned earthbending from the badgermoles. They became the first earthbenders, and created a labyrinth of tunnels where they could hide and meet in secret.

One day, the man didn’t show up. He’d been killed in the war. And the woman was so hurt, she gave an incredible display of earthbending. She could have killed them all, but instead, she declared the war over, and the two villages worked together to build the city where they would leave in peace. The city was called Omashu, after the two lovers, Oma and Shu.

Aang thought it was a beautiful story. Earthbending had been born out of love. The city that his old friend ruled was born out of love. These tunnels were born out of love.

He glanced at Katara. He wanted to make her feel loved and worthy, the way she deserved.

He caught a glimpse of something behind Katara. The two children turned around, and behind them, carved into stone, was a giant figure of the two lovers, Oma and Shu, sharing a kiss. Between them, there was a writing:

“Love is brightest in the dark” Katara read.

Aang swallowed. He glanced at the tombs and at the drawings telling the story of the two lovers.

It was stupid— really stupid— but it made him think about Zuko. They were the last airbenders, just like how Oma and Shu were the first earthbenders, and they were enemies, but he still wanted to be friends with him.

Maybe he just needed another airbender by his side sometimes.

He blushed when he realized the implications that his thoughts could have.

He wasn’t in love with Zuko! Ew. Gross. He was too aggressive and too angry, and he was always trying to kidnap him. Aang didn’t think he could ever be in love with someone like that. He liked a different kind of people.

He glanced at Katara.

“How are we gonna find out way out?” He asked.

She was holding the torch. It was getting smaller and smaller with every second that passed.

Katara sighed.

“We’ll run out of light soon”

“But… you can firebend” Aang suggested.

Katara didn’t reply. She wasn’t looking at him.

“Katara?”

“I don’t know, Aang” She said. “I don’t feel comfortable doing that”

Oh.

“I’m sorry”

“It’s okay”

They kept walking, then, hoping to find the way out soon.

火

But they weren’t finding the way out. The torch had almost disappeared by now. The tunnel felt infinite, and the fire kept dangerously flickering.

Katara sighed.

“What are we gonna do?” Aang asked.

Katara looked unsure.

“I don’t know if I can firebend” She said. “I didn’t tell you, but last time I did it…” She refused to meet his gaze. “The Northern Tribe knew I was a firebender by how I had left Zuko’s body”

“He looked normal when he found him”

“Because they healed him. They said he was covered in burns, and…” She shook her head. “Yue was there when I fought him. She was scared of me”

Aang thought he understood. It was like him with the Avatar State. She was scared of hurting people. She was scared of people being scared of her.

“It’s okay” He said. “You don’t have to do it”

General Fong had tried to force him beyond his limits with the Avatar State and it had been painful and terrifying. He would never do that to Katara.

“I mean, we still have to find our way out” Katara said.

“We’ll find a way. Don’t worry”

As he said this, the fire fluttered. It was dying. He light was disappearing.

“Katara?” Aang said. “Just so you know, I never feel safer than when I’m with you”

He could only get a glimpse of Katara’s smile before they were swallowed by the darkness.

火

_“Love is brightest in the dark”_

火

And a second later, the brightest yellow flame rose from Katara’s palm. It casted light on the walls of the tunnels and reached the ceiling, illuminating much further than the torch.

The fire was alive, but it was gentle. It didn’t flicker or flutter. It just illuminated and created warmth. Its light reached the smallest corners of the tunnel and when Aang looked up, he saw that the light also came from above.

A track of glowing green crystals was carved into the roof. It led the way through the cave and to the exit.

His heart picked up. They were saved!

They both shared a smile and raced to the end of the tunnel. Katara didn’t put out her fire, even though she didn’t need it anymore.

火

There weren’t two Water Tribes, but three. The Foggy Swamp Tribe lived insolated from the world. Aang had to leave the Northern Water Tribe a bit earlier than he would have liked, and the swampbenders were more than happy to teach him a thing or two about waterbending.

He was glad he still got a chance to master waterbending. He had to admit he liked these techniques a little bit more than the Northern ones. The Northern Style was much more aggressive.

火

They met Toph in Gaoling. Long story short, Aang needed an earthbending teacher, the city of Omashu had been occupied by the Fire Nation, King Bumi was being held captive and Toph hated her life as a pretty little rich blind girl. Toph wanted to _fight_. And she was damn good at it.

At first, Katara had been happy to have another girl in the group. Then, she started to worry.

Toph didn’t know she was a firebender.

There was no way to predict how she would react. The possibilities were endless. She could shrug and not care, and she could also kill Katara on the spot.

Katara had her reasons to worry.

She never firebent around her. _Never_. No even to start a campfire at night. She saw it as a chance to have Sokka cook his own dinner. That was a nice change.

She had her differences with Toph. Toph only looked after herself. She called it ‘pulling her own weight’. Katara called it being a selfish brat. Either way, they both drove Aang crazy. Whenever they started arguing about something, he decided it was a good moment to practice waterbending and he left for an hour or two.

But then, the Fire Princess had shown up, and Katara was left with few options.

風

Zuko left Iroh one morning after a disagreement. He told him they had no reasons to keep traveling together. Iroh knew he couldn’t stop his nephew from going. He was an airbender, and airbenders craved freedom, even if Zuko had never known true freedom before. He had still a long way to go.

So Iroh let him go. He trusted he came back, some day. He had the feeling he needed to be alone to find himself.

風

_“No matter how things may seem to change… Never forget who you are” _

“You’re not soldiers” Zuko said. “You’re bullies. You abuse your power over women and kids”

They didn’t want to take Lee as a soldier. They wanted to torture a poor family that had already lost a child. It was cruel and messed up.

When the freeloaders didn’t like what they heard, they charged. Zuko didn’t even need to use his swords to take them out. He broke his spears and knocked them down effortlessly.

But then the earthbender hit the ground with his maces. He raised rocks from the earth and threw them in his direction. He couldn’t block all of them. They were too many and they hit too hard. It hurt terribly.

_“Never give up without a fight”_

Still, he stood his ground.

And when he couldn’t stand his ground, when was beaten and hurt and on his back, he still fought.

He brandished his swords in circles, breaking his mother’s first rule once again. It was a firebending move, but the wind ripped the earthbender from the ground on and tossed him against a building. Rocks fell all over him. He was trapped.

Then it dawned to him. The people around him, Lee and his mother looking at him from afar. He had just airbent in front of an entire village.

“Who…?” The earthbender coughed. “Who are you?”

Before Zuko could reply someone shouted:

“He’s the Avatar!”

What?

People raced towards him, but instead of the usual grimaces of fear and anger, they were smiling.

“I heard about you!” A woman cried. “You’re the last airbender!”

“Uh…” Zuko wasn’t sure how to react. “I… guess I am”

The people started to chatter excitedly.

“The Avatar has come to our village!” an old man exclaimed. “To what do we owe the honor?”

“Uh…” He saw Lee not far. His mother was untying him from the post. “Excuse me”

He passed by the earthbender and fished his dagger out of the scabbard.

When Lee saw him, he smiled widely.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were the Avatar?” He asked.

“…It never came up?”

He wasn’t good at lying.

That night, Lee’s mom, Sela, organized a feast in Zuko’s honor in her farm, as a thank you for saving her son and as a celebration for the honor of having the Avatar visit their village. People from the entire town brought food and drinks. A man brought a string instrument to play music.

_“Everything I’ve done, I’ve done it to protect you”_

_“Zuko, my love, I’m so sorry about the rules”_

It was… strange. No one had ever thrown a feast in his honor. He had never felt this appreciated in his life, really. He had never… well… his airbending had never been celebrated like that.

These people acted as if his airbending was a good thing. Something to be _proud_ of.

“I never met an airbender before!” Lee exclaimed over dinner. “Can you fly?”

“I… never tried” Zuko replied. It wasn’t a lie, exactly.

“Can you make other people fly?”

“I’m not going to make you fly. You could get hurt”

“He’s been really protective of Lee since he got here” Sela explained to her guests. Dinner was noisy and energetic and so full of life. Zuko didn’t have to worry about etiquette or keeping quiet or not interrupting people. These Earth Kingdom citizens laughed and ate and played music no matter how awful it sounded. The way it sounded or looked didn’t matter.

“I have a question” a girl intervened. “Where have you been these last hundred years? You look way too young to be a century old”

“Well…” What had happened to Aang? “I… kind of got trapped in an iceberg”

Some people gasped in awe. He caught sight of Sela looking at him with suspicion.

“How many elements have you mastered so far?” a man asked.

“Only one, I think” He confessed. “Actually… I’m not sure I’ve mastered air yet”

“It must be so hard for you” An old woman took his hands unexpectedly. “Not having someone to teach you”

“Forget teachers” Another woman said. “You lost your entire people. You must feel so lonely”

“Honestly, I can’t imagine what it would be like to be the last earthbender” someone else said.

“Not having anyone else to share your legends or your values or your music with”

“Not having anyone who fully understands you”

“Being alone in the world”

“Okay, okay! That’s enough!” Sela suddenly stood up. She glared at the old women who had been nagging Zuko. “Give the poor boy some rest. He doesn’t need your nagging”

The old women went silent, embarrassed.

Alone in the world?

Well, he had to admit that, before finding Aang, he had felt quite lonely.

The last airbender. The _only_ airbender, and living in the Fire Nation, where everyone was an enemy and anyone would kill you in the moment they learned who you were. You could never trust anyone.

_(No. _He_ was the enemy. Not his Nation)._

Had he lost his people?

_(No. His people were the Fire Nation)._

Was he completely, utterly alone in the world? Was he understood by anyone? Was he lost?

He realized then that no one in that farm knew his name, or where he came from, or who his family was or even that he was not the Avatar. No one really knew him or understood him.

Still, completely alone in the world.

Was this how Aang felt?

_(Except for Aang. Aang was still out there. The one other airbender. They were the last ones. Was he still alone when another airbender soared the skies?)._

He shook his head. It was stupid to worry about Aang’s hurt feelings. 

The feast ended an hour or two later.

Once all he guests had left, Sela asked Zuko to have a word with her.

“I know you’re not the Avatar” She said. “I’ve heard news about the Avatar. He’s been seen looking for an earthbending teacher not far from here, and you haven’t even mastered air”

Zuko looked down.

“Is it that obvious?”

“There were other hints, too” Sela confessed. “I didn’t want to ruin the party. Everyone was so excited to have the Avatar here… He gives them hope” She smiled. “We may see the war’s end. I didn’t want to take that away from them” She looked at Zuko dead in the eye. “But I know you’re not the Avatar. So, the question is: who are you, really?”

Zuko was a bad liar. Anything he said would come off wrong. And if he told the truth, he would face the same destiny airbenders faced in the Fire Nation.

He was trapped between a rock and a hard place.

“Are you from the Fire Nation?” Sela continued. “The way you fought back there reminded me of firebending”

Zuko swallowed.

“Yes” He simply said, looking away.

Sela took a step back.

“You weren’t born a hundred years ago, right?”

“No”

“Do you come from the colonies?”

“No”

“What’s your name?” Sela demanded to know. “And I mean your _real_ name. Tell me the truth”

Zuko locked eyes with her.

“I’m Prince Zuko” He said. “Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai”

Sela’s eyes widened with fear. Then, with anger.

“You lied to my family” She said. “You let everyone think you were the Avatar and took advantage of our generosity”

“I didn’t mean to lie to you”

“Oh, I think you did!” Sela accused. “You have to leave. Airbender or not. Now”

Zuko’s shoulder dropped. Sooner or later, everyone would reject him. Maybe that was just his nature.

He picked up his things from the barn, where he found Sela’s husband. He was… tidying up, it seemed. He asked him about it and he said it was so that the Avatar could spend a good night of sleep. He deserved it, he said.

“I’m not staying” Zuko said. “I must go now”

“Now?” He asked. “Why so soon?”

“Avatar stuff. I… think”

“Oh” The man said. “Oh! Yes, yes, go” He put his hand on Zuko’s shoulder, and Zuko had to resist the urge to smack it away. “And son… take care of yourself. The world really needs the airbenders and I’m glad my family and I got to help you”

_The world really needs the airbenders._

Zuko had to think that was a lie.

He jumped onto his ostrich horse and gave Sela and her husband one last look before parting. He felt bad about not being able to say goodbye to Lee.

Sela’s glare haunted him even after he was out of her sight.

火

The Fire Princes was a prodigious firebender. She was cruel and merciless.

First, she exhausted them, depriving them of sleep like a crow-hyena playing with its prey. Then, she lunged.

She had trapped Aang. She was going to kill him.

It was then that Katara struck. From behind her, so she couldn’t see her, couldn’t dodge and couldn’t block the fire before it hit her.

The Princess groaned in frustration before returning the blow. A waterfall of blue fire falling on her, and Katara only had a second to push it away with a movement of her hands.

She never stood a chance.

The Princess was terrifying. She never gave her a breath. She seemed to take note of her weak points to exploit them and each blow burned painfully and made her clothes smoke.

Then Aang showed up, and he made his staff spin vertiginously and extinguish the fire before it reached Katara. It gave her an opening to get up and shoot fire in the Princess’ direction, clumsily imitating one of the movements she had used against her. She blocked it flawlessly.

“Well, well” he Princess snickered. “What do we have here? A firebender from the Water Tribe?”

Katara didn’t reply. She just glared at her and punched fire in her direction again. The Princess blocked it, completely unfazed by it.

“You don’t really believe you can take me down like that, right?”

The strikes continued to fall on her, and all Katara could do was to block them or redirect them away from her. She didn’t get the opening for a counterattack or for an offense. She could only helplessly reject the attacks.

It wasn’t until Sokka’s boomerang hit the back of the Princess’ head, until Zuko and his uncle showed up and until the Princess surrendered and disappeared in a blue of fire, taking Iroh down with her, that Katara got a moment to breathe.

Zuko cried over his uncle. Part of Katara wanted to go over to him and offer help. Perhaps she could bandage something…

She exchanged a look with Aang and understood that he thought the same.

Zuko rejected them, of course. Katara could see it broke Aang’s heart.

They spent the rest of the night giving Toph a couple explanations.

風

Uncle recovered quicker than Zuko thought. It was a relief. He had been so scared when he saw the fire hit him...

He even made him some tea! He tried to remember how to make his favorite and even drank it with him.

He was just glad to see he was okay.

He shared his worries. He was now on the run from Azula, and he had no idea how to fight. He could use swords, yes, but swords had little effect against fire. Especially against Azula’s fire. She was a prodigy firebender, after all, and he only counted with two long knives. He knew he needed something else.

He also knew what this ‘something else’ was, but he didn’t dare to say it. He let Uncle utter the words for him.

“Zuko” Uncle said as he put down his tea of cup. “I think it’s time you begin your airbending training”

火

The day after their encounter with Azula was the day in which Aang began his earthbending training.

Toph was a merciless teacher. She called it ‘tough love’. Katara called it sadism. She was pushing Aang beyond his limits and it was clear he was getting frustrated.

“You have to stop thinking about an airbender!” Toph scolded him. “There’s no trick, no different angle that’s gonna move that rock. You have to face it head on”

Katara observed them. Down on the earth was no place for an airbender. Aang’s style consisted in evading and avoiding, jumping and flying out of the enemy’s reach. Nothing about facing anything head on or ‘standing his ground’. She understood why earthbending was so hard for him.

And just like Aang was forced to stand his ground and stop running, that day Katara decided it was time she learned firebending. Not breathing or control exercises.

If they were facing Azula, she needed to learn combat firebending.

The idea was both terrifying and exciting. She _itched_ to fight. It was something she enjoyed, as long as she wasn’t the one losing, of course. And if she didn’t want to lose, she needed to practice.

And it was terrifying because it felt like giving in to aggression and the violence of the Fire Nation.

Would she be any different from the monsters that raided her village if she learned how to fight?

_“Just so you know, I never feel safer than when I’m with you”_

Well, she wouldn’t necessarily turn into a monster. She could learn how to fight and keep a grip on herself, right?

She talked to her friends about it over dinner, around the campfire.

“I was just thinking” She said. “I can’t just let you guys _save me_ all the time. I need to learn how to do this”

“You know you don’t have to, don’t you?” Aang said. “I mean, Sokka’s been doing well without any bending!”

Sokka glared at Aang. Katara looked at her friend.

“That’s the thing, Aang. I _do_ have to” She stood up. “And even if I didn’t, I still want to be able to fight. I’m not a helpless little girl anymore”

“Whatever makes you happy, Sugar Queen” Toph replied. She had been surprisingly accepting of Katara’s firebending. She’d said it wasn’t as odd as she thought. Maybe it was in the Water Tribe, but with the colonies in the Earth Kingdom it was a common phenomenon. 

Katara turned to Sokka.

“What do you think?”

Sokka shrugged.

“As long as you don’t set our food on fire or something, it’s good for me”

“Really?”

She had expected her brother to be more reluctant. He had seen the same horrors and she had.

“I mean, you’re the firebender. It’s your choice. I’d rather get set on fire by you than by Zuko’s crazy sister”

He looked genuinely supportive, and that was all the encouragement Katara needed. She hugged her friends and the next day, she began her training.

Or at least she wanted to, but she realized she didn’t even know where to start.

“Maybe we could get some firebending scrolls somewhere” Sokka suggested.

“Yeah, good luck with that” Toph said. “This is the Earth Kingdom what we’re talking about. No one wants firebenders to learn how to fight”

“Maybe we could look for Jeong Jeong!” Aang supplied. He was standing on a pillar of rock that shook like an earthquake at random under Toph’s command. He was supposed not to fly away and keep equilibrium despite the movement.

“Less talking and more training, Twinkle Toes!”

“Yeah, that’s what Jeong Jeong would say” Sokka said.

“I don’t know. He said he wouldn’t teach me combat firebending” Katara reminded them.

Sokka sighed. He was playing with his boomerang, tracing patterns on the dirt and bored out of his mind. Suddenly, he stood up.

“Wait. I have an idea”

He climbed on top of Appa’s saddle and grabbed something from one of their bags. A wooden box.

“What is that?” Katara asked.

“Remember I told you I borrowed some waterbending scrolls from the North Pole?” He opened the box to reveal at least a dozen scrolls stored inside. “Well, I was thinking, maybe you could learn waterbending! But, you know, with fire”

Katara picked one of the scrolls from the box.

“You think this could work?”

“I’ve seen you do that waterbendy move before” He moved his arms in the way waterbenders did to raise water. “You know, like a wave?”

Katara smiled. This could… actually work! And it wouldn’t be Fire Nation firebending, but Water Tribe firebending, if that even existed. And if it didn’t, then she would invent it. Aang was getting pretty good with waterbending, and it would be a great opportunity to practice.

But most importantly, Katara could still be Water Tribe even when playing with fire.

It wasn’t even real firebending! It was perfect!

She hugged her brother and immediately got down to practice.

While Toph and Aang played with rocks, Sokka and Katara walked a dozen feet away from the camp in order to practice without any risk.

“Okay, so this one’s like this” He extended an arm and drew a fluid circle above his head, before descending with both arms extended and one running near the ground. Katara could perfectly imagine the water moving around him.

He was holding the scrolls, just in case, but Katara still asked to see the picture in the parchment. Once she had memorized it, she took a step back and replicated it.

She arched her arm with a flowing movement, fire following her hand. It was bright and yellow and tranquil, like a teardrop shed by the sun, but also weak and not very hot. It barely had any energy. She ran it across the ground with her free hand extended behind her to keep balance, before returning to her initial stance.

She repeated the motion a couple of times, until she was sure she had gotten it right. It felt natural and comforting, not scary in the slightest.

A teardrop of sun. She liked that image.

風

“Firebending and Airbending are not as different as you may think” Uncle said. After finishing the tea, he had made some more, and this time he seemed to be drinking more eagerly. He put down his empty cup. “Both bending arts come from the breath” He picked a small twig from the little fire they were using to heat the water and placed it on the ground. There was a little flame at the tip. “Fire needs air to exist” He placed the cup upside down, covering the burning twig “Without air, fire will simply drown. And without the fire of the sun, the air around us will become cold and impossible to breathe” He lifted the cup. The little fire had extinguished completely. “Where do you think that breathing technique I taught you about comes from? It was a gift from the firebenders to the Air Nomads, before the war started. It’s not so different from the breathe of fire”

“Why are you telling me this?” Zuko asked.

“Because you’re as much Fire Nation as any firebender” Uncle explained. “But in order to learn airbending, you must accept it as a part of yourself. I’m just trying to make you see that these two parts of you are not exclusive. In fact, they balance each other” Uncle stood up. “Come with me outside”

They were staying at a wrecked, abandoned house by a cliff. Once they were on the edge, Uncle picked up a branch and drew the symbols of the four elements on the dirt as he explained each one. Water was the element of change, Earth was the element of substance, Fire was the element of power and Air was the element of freedom.

“All of this elements talk sounds like Avatar stuff” Zuko pointed out.

“The Avatar may be able to bend all four elements” Uncle explained. “But that’s not what makes him powerful. The true value lies in understanding each of them. It’s important to draw wisdom from different sources” He poked his chest with the branch. “You were raised like a firebender. Now, you must learn how to be an airbender”

Zuko stared at the symbols for a moment. The tree spirals that symbolized airbending were making him anxious.

“You said Air was the element of freedom” He said. “But I don’t feel free, exactly”

“Does an airbender lose his bending when he’s chained up?” Uncle shook his head. “There are different kinds of freedom. Right now, you only have one of them. The one you still need to find is here” He pointed at his head “and here” he pointed at his heart.

“I don’t understand” Zuko insisted. “When will I start practicing?”

“You _are_ practicing” Uncle said. “Airbending is the most spiritual of all bending arts. You can’t just punch the air and expect it to work. Firebending comes from within, and so does airbending”

Zuko was starting to grow frustrated. This wasn’t going to help him fight Azula.

“Uncle” He said. “I need to learn combat airbending if I’m going to face Azula”

“Combat airbending?” Uncle looked baffled. He laughed. “There’s no such thing as combat airbending!”

Zuko groaned. This was going to be harder than he thought.

火

In the following days, Katara spent as much time as possible practicing her firebending.

While Toph and Aang studied earthbending, she and Sokka walked away from the camp to practice. Sokka gave her a demonstration from a safe distance and she replicated her movements, making fire move like a liquid, spilling between cracks of a rock and around the dad stumps of trees. She made it splash and move around her, redirecting it when it got too close and sending it to an imaginary enemy. She raised fire from the ground like wave and gently pushed it around. She moved with the fire as if it was part of her.

Her technique was very particular and extremely different from traditional firebending. Instead of punching and kicking and sending fireballs in all directions, she used one big teardrop of sun for all her movements, and it only died when she stopped practicing. Just like waterbenders did with their limited supply of water. The movements were calm and gentle instead of aggressive, nothing like real firebending.

And it made her feel good. This wasn’t Fire Nation combat. This was pure Water Tribe techniques. She was learning waterbending, after all.

It made everything a lot less scary.

She was almost getting good at it!

風

Zuko was a terrible airbender.

In fact, he must be the worst airbender in history.

He couldn’t control it. He tried to make a leaf fly, and he blew it off the edge of the cliff. He tried to jump onto the roof of the house and he crashed into the wall. He tried to stand in one foot and maintain balance and he tripped over.

“No, no, no!” Uncle sighed after three days of watching his nephew constantly fail. “You’re thinking like a firebender!”

Zuko groaned.

“This is helpless!”

“You’re trying to go _against_ the air” Uncle continued “when you’re supposed to move like you’re one with the wind”

Zuko groaned again. Okay. One with the wind.

Uncle picked up a leaf and dropped it into the air. Zuko had to move it through the debris of the wrecked house without touching anything, and let it come out undisturbed from the other end.

He tried to manipulate the wind around the leaf, forcing it to move up and down, left and right, away from the fallen planks of wood and the broken stone.

But the leaf did whatever it wanted, and it crashed against the wall dead on, not even coming closer to the exit.

Zuko groaned one last time and dropped to the ground, holding his head in his hands.

Why couldn’t he control it!?

Uncle placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I think it’s time you take a break”

They’d been practicing this same exercise for the last three days while Uncle recovered, and it just wasn’t working! He didn’t know what he was doing wrong! He had to move the leaf around and that’s what he’d been doing! Trying to control the air around it! Why was it so difficult?

One of the first things a firebender did when they began their training was to sit under the sun, meditate and breathe, trying to feel its energy. Uncle wasn’t sure how to train an airbender boy, especially one as hurt as his nephew, but he suggested that he sat down to feel the wind.

It ruffled his short hair and blew gently on his clothes. If he breathed deeply, he could sense the scent of the tea Uncle was making and the comforting smell of smoke and burning firewood that the breeze carried in his direction.

It was relaxing. It felt nice.

_“Zuko, my love, listen to me”_

_ “I’m so, so sorry about the rules. I never meant to hurt you”_

_(“Always remember that this is not part of you”)_

_“Everything I’ve done, I’ve done it to protect you”_

_“No matter how things may seem to change…”_

The wind picked up. It filled his lungs and with the smell of firewood it brought back a distant memory. His mother nurturing a campfire in Ember Island. The wind was strong and it carried the smell of the ocean, the waves crashing against the shore. He was not older than seven and he laughed, and his mother laughed, and he raised his arms like he was trying to fly. Perhaps he _did_ fly. The wind moved around him and when he jumped, it carried him across the air and next to his mother. He wasn’t trying to move a leaf, but he was moving like one. His clothes ruffled in the wind and the fire burned bright and cheerful with his laughter.

And his mother allowed herself to laugh, too, because watching her son, her small, brave, happy, beautiful airbending child laughing made her heart swell with love.

_“Never forget who you are”_

風

Zuko opened his eyes and stood up.

“I’m ready to try again” he said.

So Uncle threw another leaf into the air and Zuko invoked that memory. The little memory of flying. He closed his eyes.

The wind was strong, and it pushed him effortlessly like a feather. For a moment, he was tempted to offer resistance, but all his instincts screamed at him not to. Let it carry you. Let it lift you from the ground and take you up and up into the sky, and then let it blow you away, away, where you are so high into the sky and so far away from everything that hurts. Let it make you free.

With palms open instead of the usual firebending closed fist, he let the wind carry him. He didn’t open his eyes once. He breathed in and out and thought about his mother, laughing, back when she didn’t talk to him about rules. It was from a time before that. The breeze carried the leaf, and Zuko was the breeze itself. Not controlling, but flowing with it. Almost subconsciously, he moved into a different stance, as if taking a step forward, as if it was a dancing movement. The wind whistled and the leaf jumped away from a piece of wood. It traveled between the cracked stones and when it passed over the small fire where Uncle made his tea, it playfully leaped higher, pushed by the hot air. It made Zuko’s heart race.

Back when he was little, his lungs were so strong his laughter was enough to turn a campfire into giant bonfires. The wind picked up with every giggle. He wasn’t scared when he was little. His mother didn’t teach him any rules, his Uncle and his cousin were the only heirs to the throne and his father focused all his attention in Azula, practically forgetting Zuko existed. And strangely, this neglect, this lack of attention meant freedom. He was free of scars, of expectations, of rules, of fears, of conditional love, of impossible quests and of the terror of worthlessness.

And he could just… fly.

The leaf touched the ground at the other side of the house.

Zuko opened his eyes.

He had done it.

“I did it!” He exclaimed. He gave an impossible leap and landed on the roof. “Uncle! Did you see that? I did it!”

Uncle laughed, and Zuko couldn’t help but laugh a little bit, too. The boy didn’t realize he had just jumped into the roof, too.

火

Wan Shi Tong’s library had been terrifying. They had lost Appa, the anthropologist that went with them never left the place and they had almost been killed by the Spirit.

But after they made it out of the desert and everyone calmed down a little, one could see that there had been a few upsides to the situation.

Mainly, they had found out about the eclipse. A day in which firebenders had no power. And it came before the comet.

This was key information that must be taken to the Earth King immediately.

The second upside was a little more selfish, but Katara had found a couple firebending scrolls. _Real_ firebending scrolls. They seemed to be over a hundred years old, considering the state of the parchment, so Katara reassured herself that this art was from before the Fire Nation turned into what it now was.

She practiced during the days they spent traveling the desert on foot.

It was striking how different real firebending was from Katara’s amalgam of firebending and waterbending. Real firebending was much, much more aggressive. It was kicks and jumps and quick punches. As she practiced them, she realized how many times she had seen it, from Fire Nation soldiers, from Azula and even from Zuko, who wasn’t a firebender. Taking a step and a jump forward to propel a fire punch, drawing a high arch with your leg to kick fire at the enemy, moving your arm in a diagonal motion to send tongues of fire forward. It was all scarily familiar. There was even a move in which you blew fire out of your mouth.

She liked her own version of firebending better.

Eventually, she decided she hated real firebending, even if it was so much stronger than her own water-firebending. She completely abandoned it and continued to play with her teardrop of sun.

Aang was angry. Incredibly angry. Then, he was withdrawn. That worried Katara even more. Sokka was too busy with Suki after finding her at Full Moon Bay and Toph was too busy doing Toph stuff, so Katara was the one to try to talk to him.

He bowed, thanked her for her concern and walked away.

She would rather see him angry.

She thought it made sense. Appa was the only thing he had left, after the Air Nomads were wiped away.

The last airbender. Appa was gone, Aang was alone and the only other airbender in the world was trying to hunt him down.

Katara wanted to hug him and tell him he wasn’t alone, not at all. But, in a way, she knew this was a lie.

風

When Lee helped him steal food from the Captain for the refugees, Jet liked him straight away.

When he saw him perform the incredible leaps and move with the unique agility only airbenders were capable of, he liked him even more.

Another airbender! And he wasn’t a cowardly little monk like the Avatar. This was a _real_ warrior. Jet knew a fighter when he saw one.

They ate together, with his freedom fighters. They all celebrated meeting another airbender, and Lee blushed and stuttered, as if he wasn’t used to receiving praise. They talked about Ba Sing Se. Jet had to admit he was quite surprised to see a airbender traveling to the Impenetrable City, but he didn’t say it. As far as he knew, airbenders valued freedom above all else. Walls didn’t sound like freedom.

But considering the history of the Air Nomads, he guessed it was understandable that Lee would sacrifice his freedom for safety. Jet grimaced at that thought. That was what weak people did. The true fight, the true revolution, happened when people valued freedom and justice above their individual security.

But Lee had taken a risk to help them liberate food for the refugees. He couldn’t be that bad.

So, later, at the train station, Jet offered him a place in the Freedom Fighters. They could definitely use someone like Lee: skilled with the swords, brave, an airbender, a good looking young man…

But Lee declined his offer.

Of course.

Next time he glanced at Lee and his uncle’s direction, he saw steam coming from Mushi’s teacup. He had complained about it being cold just minutes ago.

He was struck by rage and betrayal. They were just like that girl, Katara. They acted innocent, lied about their true bending, made you trust them, and then they stabbed you in the back.

_(He wasn’t an airbender)._

Firebender scum.

風

Zuko and Uncle Iroh found jobs a tea shop, because of course they did. Every day after work, Zuko climbed onto the roof of their apartment, where he could feel the wind. It had become a sort of routine. It was comforting, and he found that the more he meditated, the better he got at airbending. His Uncle folded a paper into an origami bird and told Zuko to try making it fly around the apartment. Zuko asked him why, and Uncle replied that it was fun.

“I don’t need fun” Zuko protested. “All this time you’ve been making me breathe and meditate and make things fly around! I’m ready to fight now”

“Everyone needs a little fun in their life” Uncle said. “What is life worth without fun?”

“I’m not going to beat Azula with fun, Uncle”

“Fun is a vital element of Air Nomad philosophy”

“But I’m not an Air Nomad. Azula is not going to care about fun or philosophy” He stood up. “Why won’t you teach me?”

Uncle struck two stones together to create a spark and heat water. He couldn’t afford to firebend in Ba Sing Se.

“Well, honestly…” Uncle hesitated. “Because I don’t know how to”

“What!?”

“You can’t expect me to know everything!” Uncle exclaimed. “I’m not an airbender! I only know what I read in history scrolls!”

Zuko groaned and held his head between his hands.

“This is unbelievable!” He lamented. “How am I going to face Azula like this?”

Uncle hummed.

“If only we knew of an Airbending Master who was willing to teach you” He innocently said.

Zuko suddenly remembered Aang’s offer.

“What are you suggesting?”

“I’m just saying. Haven’t you seen the posters?”

He handed him a piece of parchment. The Avatar Bison’s was drawn in full detail, occupying almost the entire page. Below, they had written:

_“Searching for a flying sky bison._

_Name: Appa;_

_Has six legs;_

_weight: 10 tons._

_If you have any news (about Appa) please contact:_

_Avatar Aang, Upper Ring, 96th District, Building 217.”_

Zuko blinked.

They were in Ba Sing Se? It was that easy?

“We found him” He said. “Uncle, we finally have him!”

“Zuko” Uncle put a hand on his shoulder. “Sit down”

“We can capture him right now!”

“Zuko…”

“This can be our chance, Uncle! I can prove Father I deserve to be by his side!”

“Zuko!” Uncle caught his attention. “Listen to me”

What? Did Uncle not want to go home?

“Lots of good things are happening to us. We can have a fresh start here in Ba Sing Se!” He squeezed his shoulder. “The Fire Nation is not a safe place for an airbender”

_His father had ordered his death._

Right. How could he have forgotten?

He was worthless to him. Less than worthless. Deserving of death. Airbenders deserved death.

“If what you want is to be able to face your sister” Uncle continued. “Then receiving training from the Avatar may be the only way”

“So you’re giving up?” Zuko glared at his Uncle. “We’re never going home. Is that what you’re saying!?”

He stood up and stormed off the apartment.

How could Uncle say that!? How could he give up like that!? Didn’t he understand?

If he didn’t bring the Avatar home, then he failed his Nation. It meant proving that he wasn’t Fire Nation in the slightest.

He walked down the street without a destiny. He just needed to get out.

Then Jet showed up.

“He’s a firebender!” He exclaimed. Zuko turned away to see him standing feet away, pointing his hook swords at him.

Oh, no.

“He’s with the Fire Nation! He’s a spy!”

Several passerbies looked up and stared at the scene. Jet charged against Zuko, and Zuko unsheathed his swords just in time to block the strike. He pushed him away, but Jet ran a leg against the ground and knocked him to the ground. His swords clanged as they hit Zuko’s and before he knew it, they were snatched from his hands and tossed away.

“Where’s your fire now, firebender?” Jet mocked. His swords hit the ground just as Zuko rolled to avoid them. He kicked him and managed to stand up.

His swords were gone. He was unarmed. He had only one secret weapon left.

He replicated a firebending stance and tried to push Jet away with wind, but he could barely invoke a weak breeze and the hook swords collided against his side.

He coughed. The swords descended over him again, and he tried to block them with an air cushion, but it offered no resistance against the metal. They drew painful gashes across his arms. He tried to get hold of one of the swords and pull Jet down. Suddenly, the swords were pressed against his neck, painfully choking him.

He was going to kill him.

“What’s going on here!?”

The swords were suddenly knocked away from Jet’s hands. Zuko crawled away from him, and when he looked up, he saw two policemen holding Jet by his arms and cuffing him with earthbending.

“You’re under arrest” One of them told him.

“What? No! He’s a firebender! You don’t get it! He’s a firebender!”

For a moment Zuko feared that they would turn around, let Jet go and arrest _him_ instead, but to his surprise, the policemen completely ignored Jet’s accusations and simply dragged him away.

A pair of arms wrapped around him.

“For a moment, I was worried you—”

“I’m okay, Uncle” Zuko reassured him.

風

They talked about it later that night.

“Once he took my swords away, I was defenseless” Zuko said. “I think… I think you’re right, Uncle. I need to learn how to fight”

Uncle nodded, proud. Zuko felt humiliated.

“So, are you going to talk to the Avatar?”

Zuko looked at the piece of parchment in his hands, detailing the Avatar’s whereabouts.

Did he have another option?


	2. Sing For The Wind

_“It's said I run like a stubborn tide; unstoppable, untamed and wild._   
_But a brave face isn't brave I've learned,_   
_And as I searched for wisdom I remembered your words._

_You told me, sing for the wind my love,_   
_Fear not for tomorrow,_   
_Because love's the journey of a lifetime, and where you finish isn't where you start._

_So tomorrow doesn't worry me, and though the path be untraveled at least I'm free,  
To be great, not just to be, that's what you wise old words told me.”_

–“[Sing for the Wind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDn5KofqNL0)”, by Roo Panes.

風

Ursa pulled up her hood and made sure the cloak covered his son’s face.

The sway of the ship became gentle near the coast. She’d been worried about the tides when they parted. The boat was just a small fishing sailboat, not meant for transoceanic trips and nothing like the steam warships or the royal yachts they used to travel to Ember Island.

The Royal Yacht was currently being used by Iroh, actually. Ursa had asked for a favor without questions, and Iroh, always so understanding, had agreed to take the yacht to Ember Island to avoid suspicion.

So while Ozai thought his wife and his worthless non-bender son were in Ember Island with the Royal Yacht, Ursa and Zuko traveled to the colonies by sail.

Most peasants had never seen the faces of the royal family’s members, except for the Fire Lord, with his gigantic statues. Ursa paid the fisherman with gold to not ask questions and gave a fake name. It was easy.

As the boat docked on the pier, she inhaled sharply and swore to herself she wouldn’t cry.

“Mom?” Zuko mumbled. “Where are we?”

Ursa forced a smile.

“We’re on vacations, my love” She said to him. “We’re just visiting an old friend”

Ursa had no friends in the colonies.

Zuko was only seven, and he was so small, Ursa was scared she would lose him in the crowd, so she clutched his hand tight when they walked down the pier and into the town.

Ursa had been an actor when she was younger. She could do this. She was a simple Fire Nation woman who had recently inherited a small fortune and decided to spend it on her son’s safety.

In the town, she hired another ship, and on that same moonless night they traveled south, towards Earth Kingdom territory.

They would never find him there.

Some provinces were neutral ground—the power in the Earth Kingdom was very decentralized. She vaguely remembered mumbling about it out loud at some point earlier, half-asleep and dying of exhaustion. The power in the Earth Kingdom is very decentralized.

“Mom?” Zuko asked one more time from his hammock. They could afford real beds, but the money would seem suspicious. “Who is your friend?”

Ursa pressed her lips into a thin line. She was standing by the door of the storage area of the ship, careful to see if anyone walked by. It was very dark, and there was barely any space to sleep at all with all the wooden boxes and fabric bags full of things to trade. She thanked the darkness for hiding her fear from her son.

“They’re people that are going to help us” She said. “Zuko, my love, I need you to trust me”

How could she ask her son to trust her if she couldn’t trust herself?

Then Zuko did that _thing_, that thing that always made her blood go cold and caused every hair in her body to stand up. He softly leaped from the hammock, giving a gentle flip in the air and landing perfectly on the ground, as if the air itself was placing him down on the metal floor with motherly hands.

Ursa swallowed. He needed to stop doing that. If Ozai saw him—

She shook her head.

“Why didn’t Dad and Azula come with us?” He asked, approaching her.

“Your father and your sister are busy with something” Ursa replied.

“Oh” Zuko mumbled. “Is it firebending?”

Ursa nodded. She was making it up as she went. Soon, nothing would matter.

“That’s why we are so lucky” She faked a smirk. “Dad and Azula might be firebenders, but you and I get to go on vacations whenever we want”

“Mom” Zuko yawned. “I don’t think I like these vacations much”

Ursa’s smile faltered.

“We’re arriving soon” She said. She kneeled and pulled her little boy into a hug. It was strange, how the first time she’d discovered him _doing that thing_, she’d refused to touch him, as if he was some kind of animal that needed to be put down. The sentiment lasted seconds, before she realized that this was her _son_.

How could she have ever thought him anything but a smart, brave, compassionate, beautiful boy who deserved to live a long and happy life? How could she have learned so well the teachings of her country about the people of ancient times before the Comet (her son’s people?) and walked her entire life with the disgust and the hatred that now put her little son’s life in danger? How could she have hated her son for those short ten seconds of dread?

For ten seconds, she was repulsed by the thought of touching him. Now, she held onto him like her life depended on it. Maybe it did.

She hugged him tight, digging her nails into his clothes and holding him so close to her she could hide him with her cloak, keep him _safe_ and hidden forever. Her little boy. No one needed to know.

“Mom” Zuko whimpered. “I don’t have air. I can’t breathe”

“Right, right” Ursa let him go so he could take in deep breaths of air that smelled like the ocean. She still held his shoulders tightly. “Go have some rest, my love. We’ll be arriving soon”

They traveled for one more whole day, and by the time they reached the next town, the sun was already setting. She made sure they were well hidden y cloaks and goods before leaving the ship and going into the village. It was smaller than the colony town, and in one short hour they had walked the entirety of the village and were reaching the farms and fields at its edge.

The edge of the village created that effect that the ocean often evoked, whenever Ursa stood in the beaches of Ember Island at night and stared at the sea. Behind her, the island was illuminated with lanterns and fire dancers and bonfires, but the light barely reached the sea, and just a few yards away, the world disappeared, swallowed by darkness and the murmur of the ocean. It was a comforting darkness. It was like standing on the edge of the world. Walk a few yards into the sea and you’d fall off reality.

Now, staring ahead with her son’s hand in hers, Ursa felt the same. The end of the world. She didn’t know what was past the lights of the farms. Fields? Mountains? A desert? She didn’t know and she felt her son would be safer if she didn’t.

She remembered the directions perfectly. When they finally reached the last farm, she hesitated.

She had to do this.

She kneeled to be at the same level as Zuko.

“Zuko, I love you” She said. “I love you more than anything in this world. Everything I do, I do it for you”

“I love you too, Mom” He said. He cocked his head. “Are you okay?”

A tear ran down Ursa’s cheek. She quickly wiped it away.

“Yes, yes, it’s okay” She said. “Zuko, I need you to be very brave and very strong from now on. Could you do that for me?”

“Mom, what’s going on?”

“I know this may be scary at first” She continued. “But this is for the best. I need you to believe me”

She stood up, still holding his hand, and faced the farm.

Zuko’s forefathers had created a world in which her son would never be whole. They had stripped him of a part of his heart and spirit with blood and fire. The Fire Nation was no place for an airbender boy.

But perhaps a small farm in the Earth Kingdom may be.

Ursa could pay as much money as the family needed. She had talked to them. They had experience with refugees and orphans and they knew how to take care of children. She hadn’t told them about their situation— it was too risky, but she planned on doing it that night.

They could give Zuko a chance. And then maybe… maybe he could be free. Perhaps not whole, but free.

She took a step forward, then another, and another.

And then she stopped.

She looked at her son. He was so beautiful, with his big golden eyes full of emotion that grew so worried whenever a turtleduck got hurt and his hair, pulled into a ponytail, that waved like a little flag when he jumped and ran and flew five feet into the air in a way that gave Ursa daily heart attacks. No matter how many times his sister taunted him for his inability to firebend, he still tried, practicing the katas over and over again and when he couldn’t do it, he _invented_ one, her brave soldier boy.

He was _her_ _son_.

She couldn’t do it.

She pulled him into a hug once more, and this time she didn’t let him go, even when he complained that he couldn’t breathe, that she was asphyxiating him— he was her _son_, and… and she could keep him _safe_. She could hide him forever. It didn’t matter how. She could keep him safe.

They returned to the ship and parted towards the Fire Nation before sunrise. They slept on the same hammock, even though Zuko complained that there was too little space and that the hammock could fall off. She just wanted to him close.

How could she give him away to an Earth Kingdom family? She couldn’t. She didn’t know if she was strong enough to take up the responsibility or way too weak to say goodbye.

As they got closer to the archipelago, she said to her son:

“From now on, there will be a couple of rules between you and I. Secret rules. Okay?”

火

When Katara saw Zuko, of all people, standing on their doorway, she thought she was dreaming.

He was unarmed and unaccompanied, or so it seemed.

She knew he was a stupid jerk, but she didn’t know he was this stupid.

“Uh… Hi” He stupidly said, like the stupid jerk he was. “I was wondering if I could… talk to Aang?”

“No!” She raised a wave of fire that he barely managed to avoid. “Leave!”

It had been a long day of taking care of a distressed Aang and insisting that Appa _had_ to be okay and she did _not_ have the energy to deal with Zuko on top of that.

“Is that Zuko?” Aang asked from inside the house with weak voice.

“What is the jerkbender doing here?” Sokka asked. He unsheathed his boomerang and pointed it at him. “Get out of here!”

They were playing Pai-Sho with Toph.

“Is he the ponytail guy you’re always talking about?” She asked Sokka.

“He doesn’t have a ponytail anymore” Sokka explained, without looking at her.

“I… huh…” Zuko stuttered pathetically. He locked eyes with Aang, who looked emotionless. Katara stood in the doorway, between them. “Aang, can I talk to you?”

Since when did he call him by his name?

“How stupid do you think we are?” Katara snarled. “You’re not welcome here. Go away. Now”

“Katara! Wait!” Aang exclaimed. It was the loudest he’d been in all day. He pushed her aside so he could see Zuko. “I want to hear what he has to say”

Zuko had talked about it very thoroughly with Uncle. Uncle had even written him a small script for Zuko to practice.

“You have to apologize” Uncle had told him.

“But they won’t believe me!”

“If your apology is sincere, then you’ll be a step closer to earning their forgiveness”

How sincere would an apology be, exactly, if he still low key planned to capture him when he got a chance?

Zuko had always been a bad liar.

He bowed to Aang and said:

“I wanted to apologize for… huh… chasing you all over the world?”

“And for invading both Water Tribes” Katara supplied bitterly. “Or stealing my mother’s necklace”

“Yeah… that too”

“And for burning down Suki’s village in Kyoshi Island” Sokka added.

“I’m sorry about that, too”

“What do you want, Zuko?” Katara demanded to know.

Zuko looked weirdly nervous. She had never seen him like that before.

“As you may know, I’m… I’m an airbender” He said. He looked at Aang. “And… I guess I need an airbending master if I’m going to face my sister”

火

These were great news!

Zuko had accepted Aang’s offer! He was going to train an airbender!

This was the best birthday gift ever! The day hadn’t been that bad after all!

His heart picked up. He would train the next generation of airbenders! They weren’t lost! There was still hope for the Air Nomads!

Air Nomads didn’t celebrate birthdays with gifts, but Toph had talked to him about it being a tradition in the Earth Kingdom. The monks always said they didn’t need to depend on material possessions, and they were right! Seeing Zuko had been a far better gift than anything you could buy with gold pieces.

And deep down, he was really happy and weirdly proud of Zuko for taking this step and looking for airbending training. He imagined it must have been really hard for him.

If earthbending had made him feel so out of his element (pun no intended), then he couldn’t imagine what being an airbender born in the Fire Nation must be like.

It sounded terrifying.

But Katara and Sokka didn’t seem too happy with having Prince Jerkbender at their doorstep, and they kicked him out. Aang rushed to tell him to come back tomorrow, because they would talk about it over dinner. Zuko somehow looked both hopeful and disappointment.

“I don’t know, Aang” Katara said. They were eating traditional Water Tribe cuisine that night. Which meant only Katara, Sokka and Toph were eating. “This looks suspicious”

“Maybe he changed his mind!” He argued. “Maybe he finally realized the Fire Nation is bad and he wants to join us!”

“Yeah… that’s probably not what happened” Sokka said. “It sounds like he just wants to master airbending with you so he can learn how to kick our butts better. Honestly, I wouldn’t give any more dangerous weapons to Prince Jerkbender”

“But I was the one to offer him to teach him airbending!”

“Well, just revoke the offer” Toph suggested. “Tell him it expired”

“But it didn’t expire! I _really_ do want to teach him airbending!” He stood up. “We’re the only airbenders left! I need to do this!”

“I know this is important for you, Aang” Katara touched his arm. “But chances are he’s just trying to capture you. He was acting very strange”

“Maybe that’s just how he acts when he’s not angry”

“Come on! Have you seen that guy?” Sokka snickered. “He’s always angry!”

“He wasn’t angry today” Aang insisted. “Guys, this is something I have to do. I don’t want to be the last Air Nomad in the world!”

Didn’t they understand? Couldn’t they see he was alone? Couldn’t they see that Zuko could be the only bit to his nation he had left? The other last airbender? If they didn’t find Appa—

He didn’t want to think about not finding Appa. No. No way. Appa couldn’t be gone. They were going to find him.

Katara took his hand and pulled him to sit down next to her.

“Are you sure about this?”

Aang nodded.

“I’m sure, Katara”

They looked at each other for a moment. Then Katara sighed with resignation.

“Well, if you’re sure, then I support you”

Sokka’s jaw dropped.

“Are you serious now!? You want to teach the ponytail guy how to kill us with oxygen?”

“He’s not going to kill us” Aang argued. “Airbending is not a combat art. Back in the Temples, we used it to move around and to play games. I’m not going to teach him how to hurt people!”

Seriously, what did they think airbending was about?

火

“What was that about!?” Sokka demanded to know later that night, when Aang and Toph were already asleep. “Are you really on board with this?”

Katara was doing her daily breathing exercises, with a piece of parchment and a little fire.

“If it gets out of control, we’ll stop him” Katara argued. “I’ve beaten him before”

“Yeah, before he learned airbending! How do you plan to stop a master airbender with that?” He pointed at the burning parchment. “This is a terrible idea!”

Katara was silent for a moment.

“I’m not sure about this either” She confessed. “But I feel bad for Aang”

“I feel bad for Aang too! But I’m not going around teaching my enemies how to kill me!”

“Ever since Appa was stolen, he’s been feeling awful. He feels like he’s losing connection with his people” Katara insisted. “This is his first birthday without him. I just thought, how would you feel if you found the last Southern Waterbender?”

“I doubt a Southern Waterbender would work for the Fire Nation and chase us all over the world” Sokka said. After a moment, he added: “Wait, today is Aang’s birthday?”

Katara nodded.

“He told me he’d be turning thirteen today a few months ago, but he didn’t say anything today. I wasn’t sure if I should give him something”

“Do Air Nomads even give presents? You know, with their whole detachment and spiritual stuff”

“I think he said they didn’t do that” Katara explained. “I’m not worried about that. I was just thinking that this is the first time he spends a birthday without his people. I can’t imagine the pain he must be in”

Sokka didn’t see Aang being in a lot of pain, but having lived with his sister for fifteen years of his life had taught him that what happens inside a person’s brain is not always reflected in how they act. Katara was particularly good at purposely making you think she wasn’t angry only to explode in your face later.

He realized that it was impossible for Aang not to be sad. He’d lost more than anyone else.

How much pain was he escaping from?

Another thing he’d learned in the months he’d spent traveling with Aang was that having Appa around to save their butts always meant a quick escape. Now Appa was gone.

“Look, I think we can handle Zuko” Katara said. “I’m doing this for Aang. I’m not going to let him hurt him”

Sokka sighed.

“This better not get us killed” He warned her, before slipping into his bedroll and going to sleep.

風

Zuko came back the next day and Aang gave him the news.

“So you’re going to teach me?” He asked with a little smile. Aang had never seen him smile before. It made him look so different.

“Yes! We can start now!” Aang gave a little jump. “But, uh… We need to find somewhere to practice. Sokka says we shouldn’t attract attention”

“There are a few abandoned buildings in the Lower Ring” Zuko said. “Maybe we could practice there”

When Aang told his friends he was going to the Lower Ring with Zuko, Katara was quick to react.

“No way we’re leaving you alone with that jerk” And then she added: “I’m going with you”

Aang smiled. Sokka and Toph decided they may as well come. Just in case it was a trap, they said.

That made Aang feel a little bit safer. He had his friends and Zuko wasn’t even trying to kidnap him. There was nothing to worry about!

He just wished Katara wasn’t as suspicious.

They made their way to the Lower Ring and Aang was struck by all the poverty he saw there. Hundreds of refugees, unhealthy thin and with cheap clothes walking down the streets.

Ba Sing Se was so different from the Air Temples. This wasn’t what they’d taught him.

After some searching, they found an abandoned barn among the tall buildings. It was easy to get inside, and Aang was delighted to see how spacious it was. It looked even bigger from the inside than from the outside. There were posts to climb and a scrappy wooden inner balcony that ran across the tall walls, like a rectangular ring. It was big enough to jump and fly. There was a hole in the ceiling which they could cross to get on top of the roof.

“This place is perfect!” Aang exclaimed. The others didn’t look as excited, but it was okay. He was just happy to have them here.

He was happy Zuko had decided to learn airbending. He felt happier than he had in weeks.

They saw cross-legged on the wooden planks of the balcony while Katara, Sokka and Toph played Pai-Sho below.

“My uncle has been trying to teach me the basics” Zuko explained. “I’ve been doing breathing exercises and I’ve been practicing moving things around”

“Well, the monks used to say that the first step to learn airbending was to let go of fear” Aang explained. His heart was beating so hard. He was teaching him airbending! “Once there’s nothing that scares you, you can do anything”

“I’m not scared” Zuko said.

“The monks also said that everyone is scared of something” Aang continued. “They said that never being afraid was impossible”

He never quite understood that teaching. If you had to be unafraid in order to master airbending, but you could never be truly unafraid, there how come you could ever master airbending at all? He realized that was a bad place to start, and he decided to try something else.

He stood up.

“Airbending is about finding the path of least resistance” He continued. He started to move around, drawing a circle. “When you meet resistance, you simply avoid it and find a different way”

Zuko stood up and bowed respectfully and with certain awkwardness.

It was… such a different situation from what he was used to. No chasing, no running, no fighting. Zuko was just trying to learn.

“I’m ready to try”

Aang looked around. Back at the Air Temple, they had spinning airbending gates to practice it, but in the barn, there wasn’t much to use.

“It’s not fair! You’re cheating!” Sokka accused from below.

“There’s nothing against it in the rules” Toph argued.

“Let’s do this” Aang said. He descended gracefully on the ground, and Zuko was jealous of how easy it was for him. He was tempted to try to replicate the movement, but he knew he would just fall and smash his face on the floor.

Aang told Toph about his idea and Toph agreed immediately with a grin that made Zuko scared.

“This may be your best idea so far, Twinkle Toes” She snickered.

Next thing he knew, the small earthbending girl was raising smooth, rectangular stone pillars from the earth, completely wrecking what was left of the wooden floor of the barn. And for some reason, Zuko was supposed to run into them.

“You have to avoid them and come out from the other side!” Aang shouted. “Like this!”

He gave a quick demonstration, and Zuko was suddenly aware of how _good_ he was at this. He jumped and leaped between the pillars as they raised and moved and went back to the earth. When one showed up right on his face, he quickly propelled himself away with his hands or his feet against the surface. He flew to the top of a pillar before this one receded back into the ground and he simple jumped to the next one. He did it all effortlessly, like he was just letting the air move his body around like a leaf.

He finally landed a few seconds later. Katara clapped at him somewhere behind them.

“See? Now’s your turn”

Zuko stared at the pillars for a moment. They had stopped moving, as if mockingly waiting for him to smash him to pieces.

Oh, he was going to show them!

He gave a battle cry and charged into the pillars, only to immediately crash head first into the one in front of him. He dropped to the ground.

“This is embarrassing to watch” Toph said. “And I can’t even see you!”

Katara wouldn’t say it was embarrassing. But funny? Satisfying? Oh, definitely. Watching Zuko get his butt handed wasn’t how she was planning to spend the day but she wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. When he directed his anger at a piece of rock and not at them, it was easy to laugh at him. Aang tried to explain to him over and over again that he was supposed to _evade_ the rocks, not fight them, but he didn’t seem to listen to him. He kept crashing into the pillars and Sokka, Katara and Toph kept laughing. Poor Aang was starting to grow desperate.

“Now you know what it feels like” Toph said to him.

“Come on guys” Aang lamented after the second hour of Zuko embarrassing himself in front of everyone. “A little help here?”

“You’re the airbender” Sokka shrugged. “You know what you’re doing”

Aang groaned in frustration. Katara got up to talk to him.

“Maybe you should start by something else” She suggested. Zuko was lying down on the ground, trying to recover from his humiliation.

“He says he’s already been meditating. This is supposed to be the next step!”

“Well, maybe he should try listening to you” She side-eyed Zuko, who sat up immediately.

“I’m trying, okay!?” He protested. “My sister is trying to kill me! I’m not being lazy”

“I never said you were being lazy” Katara argued. She crossed her arms. “I just said you’re not listening to Aang, that’s all”

“I’ve been doing everything he says for the last two hours” Zuko said. “And it just keeps hitting me on the face”

“You’re getting hit on the face because you… you want to hit those rocks!” Katara said. “Aang here has been trying to tell you to just avoid them. If you only stopped just… running into them—!”

“What would _you_ know?”

“Well, at least I listen to him!” Katara countered. “And I’m not the one trying to learn airbending here”

She stormed off then, to continue playing Pai-Sho with Sokka and Toph.

“Who knew you had a mean side, Sugar Queen?”

Aang and Zuko exchanged a look. He thought he understood why it was so difficult for Zuko to complete the exercise.

“Air Nomad culture revolves around avoiding conflict” He explained. “Like I said, the monks always said we had to follow the path of least resistance. I think… I think you should try to stop trying to fight all the time”

“I can’t give up” Zuko said with husky voice.

“It’s not giving up. It’s just… Well… Not attacking”

“Running away?”

“No!”

“Then what?” Zuko stood up. “Am I supposed to just escape all my problems? Will I be able to master airbending that way?”

Aang didn’t know what to say. He was suddenly overcome by guilt.

If only he hadn’t ran away a hundred years before…

He brought his knees to his chest.

“I don’t know” He confessed. “The monks always knew how to explain it”

He didn’t know what else to say.

“I didn’t think it would be this hard” Zuko confessed, sitting back down.

Aang turned to face him.

“Why did it take you so long?” He asked. “I’ve been offering to teach you for months”

“I didn’t need it until now” Zuko explained. “My sister, she’s crazy! She’s been trying to kill me!”

“Because you’re an airbender?” He asked.

Zuko nodded. It evoked a deep sense of sympathy and pity from Aang. Zuko hadn’t chosen this, but he’d been born in the most dangerous Nation and in the worst possible family, and that meant he deserved to die.

No one… no one should go like anything like that. No one should have your family want to _kill you_. He tried to imagine Sokka or Katara wanting to hurt him, but he just couldn’t. They would never do that to him. They loved him, unconditionally.

“I’m sorry” He said. Zuko looked taken aback. “I can’t imagine what it must be like for you”

“I’ve always had to struggle” Zuko mumbled.

“But you shouldn’t have to” Aang argued. “It’s not fair that you have to go through this. There’s nothing wrong with being an airbender! Why does the Fire Nation hate us so much?!”

“Because we’re enemies of the Nation”

“But the Air Nomads never did anything to the Fire Nation!” Aang insisted. He knew why they hated them and wanted them dead. It was his fault. It was his fault. He was the Avatar and they’d been looking for him.

Aang glanced at Zuko and saw his scar.

“What about that?” He asked. “Did they do it because you were an airbender?”

Zuko looked away. Seen from his left side, where you could only see his burned, disfigured eye, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. His eye always looked angry.

“No” He said. “My father didn’t know I was an airbender until a couple of months ago”

Aang’s stomach dropped.

“…Your father did that to you?”

“It doesn’t matter. I deserved it”

Aang stood up suddenly.

“No, you didn’t! Whatever you did, it couldn’t have been that bad!”

“I disrespected him. I spoke out of turn”

“Is that why he did that?” No. It wasn’t possible. Aang had always assumed Zuko had gotten his scar in a fight. It couldn’t be. Aang didn’t know much of fathers, but he knew they were supposed to love their children above all else. They— they couldn’t hurt their children! And… And just for speaking out of turn? How could anyone do that? “H—How old were you?”

Zuko shifted uncomfortable.

“Thirteen” He replied, and the word sent shivers down Aang’s spine. Three years ago. He’d been exactly his age. “He challenged me to an Agni Kai. I refused to fight him, so… he did this”

Suddenly, everything made sense.

Last time Zuko had backed away from a fight, he’d been mutilated by his own father.

The horror dawned to Aang like a sack of rocks in his stomach. He swallowed.

“I’m sorry” He repeated. He stood up slowly, as if not wanting to scare Zuko. “We don’t have to keep training. We can continue tomorrow if you want”

He knew Zuko probably wanted to keep trying, to keep pushing himself beyond his limits, but Aang knew that what he actually needed what a rest. He didn’t need to push himself through the pain. He definitely wasn’t going to force him through it.

He saw Katara talk to Zuko while he helped Toph pick up the Pai-Sho game. When she returned with them, Aang waved Zuko goodbye and left the barn with his friends.

“What did you tell him?” Aang asked curiously.

“Oh, it was nothing” Katara replied. “I just gave him a little advice”

火

Katara saw Aang and Zuko talking about something. She didn’t get to hear what they were saying exactly, but she could tell by Aang’s expression that Zuko was winning his sympathy.

It was time she put a stop to it.

So while Aang and Toph picked up the Pai-Sho board, she went over to have a word with him.

“I know what you’re trying to do” She accused. “You’re trying to earn Aang’s trust”

“What?” He asked.

“You may have bought him, but I know you’re still trying to capture him”

“Right now, I’m just trying to learn airbending”

He got up to his feet, but Katara stood in front of him and didn’t make a motion to move aside.

“I swear, if you ever give me a reason to think you may hurt him…” She clenched her fist. “I’ll make sure you’ll regret it”

Zuko swallowed nervously, clearly intimidated. Katara considered it a mission accomplished.

風

“So? How did it go?” Uncle asked as soon as Zuko walked into the apartment. “Did you find the Avatar?”

“I did” Zuko nodded. “He acceded to train me. We’ve already started”

“Those are great news!” Uncle smiled. “I must make some tea to celebrate!”

Once the tea was ready, Zuko continued to tell him about it.

“It was harder than I expected” he confessed. “He kept talking about avoiding resistance and stopping fighting”

Uncle hummed.

“I was afraid that would be an obstacle for you” He said. “You have a tendency to put up a fight even when it’s not necessary”

“‘Never give up without a fight’” He said. “That’s what the knife you gave says, doesn’t it?”

“It does say so, indeed” Uncle nodded. “But does everything have to be a fight? I think your training would go a lot more smoothly if you thought of it more as a journey instead of something to conquer” He sipped his tea. “After all, you can’t conquer air”

“I don’t know what I’m doing wrong” Zuko said.

“Well, airbending is all about freedom, isn’t it? It’s a very defensive bending art. Firebending, on the other hand…”

Firebending was the most offensive bending art. It was pure attack and no defense. Exactly what Zuko was supposed to do.

Except it wasn’t working for him anymore.

Had it ever worked?

“I suggested you trained with the Avatar because I trust him to know much more about airbending than me” Uncle said. “If you have doubts, why don’t you ask him instead?”

Later, as Zuko lay on his sleeping mat and tried to sleep, he thought about the Avatar and his friends. In just a couple of minutes Aang had managed to make him tell him about the Agni Kai. He still didn’t know why he told him that. He didn’t need to know. Now he must surely think he was weak.

Except he didn’t call him weak or acted disappointed or angry or frustrated that his enemy was just some weak and scared little boy. He had been horrified, and he had told him he didn’t deserve it.

Was that how normal people thought?

And then there was the banter with his friends. They joked. They played games. They said stupid things. They were… Well… Kids. They weren’t soldiers or generals or sailors. They were just kids, playing Pai-Sho, teasing each other and practicing bending like it was a game.

He guessed it kind of _was_ a game for them.

He also realized he wasn’t much older than them. Did that make him a kid, too? He hadn’t thought of himself as a kid in a long time.

Chasing them all over the world and fighting them whenever he encountered them, he had imagined them as hardened warriors that every Fire Nation general dreaded to fight. But they were just kids. Incredibly powerful kids, yes, but they didn’t even _look_ particularly dangerous. Except maybe for Katara.

And Katara… She had threatened Zuko. The girl who had been grossed out and terrified by her own firebending was willing to hurt someone with it if it meant protecting Aang.

They… really cared about each other.

Zuko wondered if anyone would ever want to protect him like that.

風

He tried airbending again the next day. This time, he tried to take in everything that Aang said.

“Don’t be scared of the obstacles” He instructed. “And don’t get angry with them. Just look for the path of least resistance”

The path of least resistance. Okay. He could do that.

(Was that the only sentence Aang knew? Was that all the wisdom his precious monks had passed down to him?)

This time, he was working with Toph on the pillars. He was probably just practicing his earthbending, but two earthbenders working by separate doubled the unpredictability. As soon as he saw an obstacle show up, he had to change direction to avoid being hit by it. Quick as the wind.

_Don’t fight it. Not everything has to be a fight. _

He had a hard time believing it, but if it would help him learn airbending, he could pretend.

Sokka and Katara seemed to be enjoying the show from the scrappy balcony, leaning on the railing with cocky smirks. Zuko didn’t know why that made him nervous.

He moved towards the rocks, but didn’t charge into them. He tried to move as slowly as possible.

When a pillar rose in front of him, he quickly took a step back to avoid it. Another one showed up right behind him and he had to perform a circular motion so he wouldn’t get hit. A boulder suddenly rose from the earth and started to rapidly roll in his direction. He jumped just in time, but then a new stalagmite surged and he propelled himself away from with a kick in mid air. He wasn’t paying enough attention and he collided against one of the pillars.

Above him, Sokka broke into laughter.

“Look at that guy!” He exclaimed. Zuko growled and sent a gust of air in his direction. He was knocked down from the balcony.

Toph clicked her tongue and shook her head in disappointment.

“Let’s try again” She turned to Aang. “Twinkle Toes?”

He nodded, and they started again. Zuko managed to jump away from the first pillar, and instead of landing on the ground, he held onto the closest one. When it receded back into the earth, he leaped onto the ground, only to be hit by a rolling boulder.

Okay. Let’s try again.

He charged into the pillars this time, but he cowered away before they could touch him. He walked with his feet barely touching the ground, jumping and propelling himself away from the rocks with his hands and feet. He arched back when a stalagmite bent into horizontal position and almost ran over him, and when the boulder rolled in his direction, he jumped onto the same horizontal sheet of stone, jumping to the ground in the moment he felt it disintegrate. A rock rose right before him but he jumped into the air without even making contact. A new boulder appeared and he rolled away. Then another, and he leaped on top of one of the pillars still standing. It quickly fell back to the ground, and it would have dragged him with it if he hadn’t jumped at last second, landing softly on the ground.

He expected another rock, but when he looked up, he saw he had left them behind. They quickly disappeared into the earth. The poor wooden floor was completely destroyed, leaving a visible patch of dirt instead.

“You made it!” Aang exclaimed. Toph cheered and Sokka booed him. Mom chirped with mild approval.

Zuko cranked his neck to look at the tortured floor.

“Was that it?”

“Well, it’s never bad to practice that more, if you want” Aang said. “…But I think you’re ready for something else”

風

They had climbed on top of the roof. Aang drew a wide circle on the ground with a piece of charcoal.

“This is an Airbending Circle” He explained.

“It _is_ a circle” Zuko pointed out.

“The Air Nomads used it to practice airbending footwork” Aang continued. He stepped on the circumference and started moving along the line. Zuko immediately recognized the movements. He had seen them a million times while fighting him. “Airbenders are always moving in circles to avoid strikes” He started to take long strides around the circle, never once taking his eyes off of Zuko.

“It doesn’t seem hard” Zuko said.

“It’s pretty easy, actually” Aang moved to the side so Zuko could practice. He performed the movements, but Aang soon saw the problem. He was rigid and his muscles were tense. He was supposed to be relaxed and move in a fluid motion. He tried to correct him a few times, but Zuko kept doing it wrong, and he was forced to step in.

“I’m going to walk with you” Aang said. Zuko looked pretty annoyed, but Aang didn’t let that bother him. He extended an arm in front of him, with the elbow flexed forming an almost 90° degree angle. His palms were open and facing the sky.

“What are you doing?” Zuko asked.

“You have to move like I do” Aang said. “Put your arm like mine”

It was a traditional Air Nomad dance that was commonly used for airbending practice. If Zuko was going to master airbending, he should also learn about his lost culture, too.

Zuko resigned himself to obey and imitated Aang’s position. Their wrists were pressed together.

“See?” Aang asked as he started to move in one direction, forcing Zuko to move in the opposite one. “You need to have some fun”

“I don’t need fun”

“You can’t master airbending without fun!”

Aang suddenly changed direction, lowering his arm and raising the other one. Zuko quickly imitated him and blocked what could have been a strike or a very quick dance move.

He smirked. He was finally learning something.

They continued for some time, moving in circles with Aang correcting him every two minutes and changing directions at random. Zuko realized it looked a lot like a Fire Nation Festival dance. Firebenders would hold flames in their open palms and juggle with it as they danced, exchanging them with the other dancers at the rhythm of the music, but the movements were also almost unrecognizable. They were far quicker and far less rigid or sudden.

He was vaguely aware of a whistle around them, the wind blowing on his hair and clothes. They were moving in circles and so was the air around them, like a quiet tornado.

Suddenly, Aang charged in his direction, and Zuko followed the movement of his own feet, moving to the side and letting him stride past him without touching him.

Aang smiled widely. They had now exchanged sides in the circle.

He took a long step forward and Zuko lifted his leg to avoid him. He quickly turned around in spiral to face Aang, with his hands in the dancing position of earlier, ready to block the next attack.

Then Aang did something different, and arched his arms in a big, quick circle before extending his open palms towards Zuko. He only had a second to smack them away from him, and the gust of wind whistled right past his face without blowing a single hair of his head.

Aang ran a leg across the floor— that was a Firebending move— and Zuko gave an impossible jump to avoid the imaginary flames, twisting in the air and landing at the other side of the circle.

Aang was smiling at him, and Zuko didn’t know why. He hadn’t even realized he had jumped six feet into the air.

火

Katara wasn’t sure about Aang’s little arrangement with Zuko.

Yes, she understood it was important for him. Yes, she understood they were the two last airbenders and yes, she knew that, if push came to shove, Aang was still a far better airbender than Zuko and the Prince wouldn’t stand a chance against him.

But in the end, it was all a favor for Aang. He had lost Appa and, with him, his last connection to the Air Nomads. Appa was the only thing from the past that Aang had brought with him.

Zuko, on the other hand, was a hope for the future. Katara soon realized that Aang was not just teaching airbending to the Prince, but Air Nomad culture as well. He wanted him to become an Air Nomad.

She knew it was wishful thinking from Aang’s part. Zuko was Fire Nation to the bone. But she couldn’t bring herself to tell him that.

Aang hoped to bring the Air Nomads back starting with Zuko, and the rest of them went along with it because they wanted Aang to feel better. It was a favor. A simple favor.

Katara worried this favor would kill them all.

火

“I think I’m ready to fight” Zuko said one day.

Katara was observing them from the scrappy balcony of the barn. Sokka had grown sick of playing Pai-Sho every day for the last month while Aang and Zuko messed around with oxygen and had brought a blank scroll to practice his skills with Haiku writing.

He read:

“The water flows quick

As the sight of her fighting

Under the full moon”

“Wow! That’s the worst haiku I’ve ever heard!” Toph exclaimed. “Is it about your girlfriend?”

Sokka blushed furiously.

“It doesn’t have to be about Suki!”

“So you admit Suki’s your girlfriend?” Katara teased.

Sokka opened his mouth to refute, but then Toph gestured at him to shut up. She was trying to listen to Aang and Zuko’s conversation.

“O… Okay, if you’re sure”

“I’m sure”

Katara directed her attention to them again. Zuko had adopted a firebending fighting stance (as if he hadn’t been paying attention at all that last month— totally a Zuko thing to do), but they were walking in circles around each other.

Suddenly, Aang raised his arms and a water whip hit Zuko dead on the head.

“You didn’t tell me you were going to use waterbending!” Zuko protested.

“Sorry!” Aang exclaimed. “It’s just… Airbending is not an offensive art. I wouldn’t know how to start an attack”

“What? Are you serious!?”

Oh, so he was yelling at him now? Despite Aang acceding to teach him?

So he really was just a brat and a jerk, after all.

“Don’t worry about it, Aang” She said, descending from the balcony. “If he wants to fight, I’ll do it”

Zuko’s good eye widened in surprise. Katara couldn’t hold back her smirk.

She was _finally_ going to kick this jerk’s butt. 

Sokka raised his eyes from his haikus.

“Katara, are you sure?” He asked. “I mean, not to be dramatic, but have you seen where we are right now?” He stood up and gestured at the entire barn. It was made of wood. “You could kill us all!”

Oh. Right.

“I’ll be careful” She replied, more for herself than for her brother. “Besides, Aang can waterbend to put out the fire, right, Aang?”

She turned to her friend. He scratched the back of his neck.

“I guess so” He agreed.

“Good” Katara locked eyes with Zuko. “Let’s do this”

He picked up his swords. Katara didn’t give him time to adopt a fighting position. She just created a teardrop of fire and directed it on his direction.

Zuko instinctively raised his swords to block the fire, but it wasn’t moving in the familiar straight line. Katara moved her arms and the fire twisted around Zuko, flying towards him again.

This time, he jumped higher than Katara had ever seen him, landing on the balcony. Katara turned the teardrop into a whip and tried to hit him, but he brandished his swords and cut the useless whip in half before it could strike anything.

He descended towards her and she raised her arms to create a shield of fire. In a fraction of a second, he stabbed a wooden post with his swords to stop his fall and propel himself back into the air.

When he landed, he twisted his arm around his head and extended his closed fist towards Katara. A brutal gust of wind hit her straight on and almost knocked her down. As revenge, she raised a wave of fire, but Zuko rejected it with airbending and a quick movement of his swords, dissipating the flames in the air.

She tried to move fire again, but he simply turned the flames into nothing with his swords.

He charged towards her this time, and she tried to create another shield, but a swipe of his swords made it disappear. He punched forward and the air moved with him, this time throwing her to the ground.

No, no!

She moved her hand in a horizontal direction, throwing fire at Zuko, but the flames were weak and he dismissed them with his swords. She rolled to the side and moved her arms to raise another wave, but it didn’t take form right and it exploded pathetically on her face.

Zuko pointed a sword at her and, for a fraction of a second, she really thought she was going to die.

“You’re dead” He said. “You lost”

Wait, what?

No, it couldn’t be. She couldn’t have lost to _Zuko_!

Was that all it took? A month of training and he could already beat her?

It was humiliating.

She stood up blushing from embarrassment.

“That was just sad” Toph commented.

“It wasn’t that bad!” Aang argued. He turned to Katara. “I think you fought very well!”

“…Yeah!” Sokka agreed awkwardly. “Maybe you just need a _little_ more training”

“About that” Zuko intervened suddenly. Katara’s head perked up. She glared at him. “I have an idea”

火

“No way”

They were back in their house. Zuko had stayed in the Lower Ring.

“Katara, please” Aang insisted. “Just give it a chance. You may end up liking it!”

“Oh, and _why_ would you think I’d like to train with the Dragon of the West!?” She exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. “Listen, Aang, I know you want to train Zuko, but even I have limits”

“Katara’s right” Sokka supplied. “This smells like a trap”

“Well, if it’s worth anything” Toph said, lying on the sleeping mat. “He wasn’t lying”

All eyes turned to Toph.

“How can you know?” Sokka asked.

Toph explained how she could feel it when someone lied. There was a physical reaction when that happened, and with time she had learned to feel it and recognize it with her incredible sense of touch.

“All I’m saying” She said. “It sounds like he actually wants you to learn firebending. If I were you, I would take it more as an insult than a threat”

“Gee, thanks” Katara scoffed.

“Honestly? I think you should give it a try” Toph continued. “Who knows? You may actually become a decent firebender after all”

Katara gritted her teeth so she wouldn’t scream at her.

Oh, screw it!

“I’ve been training for months and that’s all you have to say!?”

“Listen up, Sugar Queen!” Toph sat up and pointed at Aang and Sokka. “Those two crybabies didn’t want to tell you so it wouldn’t hurt your delicate feelings, but you suck. Even Twinkletoes here has been making more progress than you! It’s like you don’t even want to learn!”

“That is _not_ true!” Katara snarled. “All this time you’ve been training with Aang _I’ve_ been training firebending with Sokka!”

“Oh! Yeah, that makes everything so much better!” Toph scoffed. “Train firebending with the Water Tribe non-bender! At this pace you’re going to master firebending by the time the next Avatar is born!”

“Hey!” Aang protested.

“This isn’t about you, Twinkletoes!” Toph silenced him. She faced Katara. “I heard what you were doing. You’re training firebending with waterbending scrolls. Unless you’re using them as fuel for the campfires, then you’re not really learning firebending. That’s why Sparky back there kicked your butt. You need to stop circling around it and face it head on”

Flames escaped from Katara’s clenched fists.

How dare she?!

“All this time since we left the South Pole I’ve been doing _everything_ I could to come to terms with this” She took a step forward. “Do you have an idea what this is like for me? After what the Fire Nation has done to us?”

“See? This is why you can’t learn firebending!”

“Gee, no kidding. Thanks, Toph”

“No, really!” Toph insisted. “You think firebending as a whole is bad because some bad firebenders wrecked your village. But have you seen Sparky? Does _he_ look like the kind of person who manages to wreck a village?”

“Actually” Sokka intervened. “He was the one wrecking our village last time”

“And he wrecked Sokka’s girlfriend’s village” Aang added.

“Well, my point still stands” Toph lay back down on the sleeping mat. “You need to stop being so scared of firebending and train with a _real_ master. This may be your only chance!”

“Actually, Toph, I have trained with a real firebending master before” Katara argued.

“Did I really miss so much?”

“Yeah, kind of” Sokka replied. “But to be fair, Jeong Jeong pretty much hated his firebending. He kept talking about pain and destruction and he made Aang breathe for like five hours straight”

“I think I’d be a little more concerned if Twinkletoes _wasn’t_ breathing for five hours straight”

“On what side are you on?” Katara looked at her brother and crossed her arms. He raised his hands in surrender.

“I’m just saying”

“Toph is right, Katara” Aang said. “Remember when I couldn’t earthbend because I wasn’t thinking like an earthbender? Well, maybe you just need to think like a firebender”

“I don’t want to think like a firebender, Aang. That’s the thing” Katara insisted. “I’m not going to… go and burn down every village I see!”

“Firebending can’t have always been like that” Toph said. “Maybe you just need to learn an older form of firebending, probably from before the war. I never studied real earthbending with a master. I learned from the original earthbenders. You know, the badgermoles”

“The giant music-loving things from the Lover’s cave?” Sokka asked.

“I wasn’t there”

“Oh, right”

Katara wasn’t immediately convinced after their discussion, but Toph’s ‘tough love’, while a little cruel, wasn’t as useless as Katara had originally thought.

Maybe she _was_ a disaster. Maybe she _had_ been avoiding true firebending. Maybe she was still scared of it, despite everything.

Jeong Jeong said fire could consume a person, and Katara often found herself feeling angry and violent, and she felt like she was walking a tightrope between good and evil.

If she let herself go and got too caught up in firebending, she became a monster. And Toph hadn’t been entirely wrong: her amalgam between firebending and waterbending was a just her being scared of real firebending, but it was weak and pathetic and she could never beat Azula with it if it ever came down to it.

That night, Katara stared at the ceiling and thought about her options.

She sighed.

Maybe Toph was right.

風

Zuko didn’t know if he was surprised or not when his Uncle said yes.

“It sounds like your friend needs help” Uncle had said.

“She’s not my friend”

“Help is given where it is needed the most, not only where you want to see it”

He communicated with the group and they agreed to meet in the tea shop during the busiest hours, where there would be too many witnesses for anyone to try anything.

He would train Katara in the art of firebending, but he refused to teach Aang until he mastered earthbending. Aang remembered how difficult and tedious it had been back with Jeong Jeong, and reluctantly accepted to wait. Katara could teach him on the road anyways, and who knew? He could master earthbending while they were in Ba Sing Se. The wait didn’t have to be long.

Of course, Katara and Sokka were suspicious. Aang and Toph not so much. It could be a trap, the two Water Tribe children said. They could be leading us straight into the wolf’s mouth, they said. Toph disregarded their fears completely and insisted she could tell Zuko was telling the truth. They didn’t believe Zuko, but they believed Toph, and for Katara and Sokka that was enough. For the moment. 

Sokka still brought his boomerang with him, though.

When they arrived, Katara realized that the tea shop was very crowded. All tables were full and there were people drinking while standing and even outside the building, leaning against the wall and by the door. They had to push themselves through the sea of people to get in.

Definitely enough witnesses. Perhaps too many. Zuko had said they’d just talk for now, no actual firebending, but would they be able to do even that with so many people there?

They made their way to the counter. Sokka had his hand on his boomerang.

“He said he worked here, right?” He asked. “Why would these people pay so much to see this jerk? Does the tea have something?”

Iroh showed up a few minutes later, coming out of the kitchen holding a wooden tray with several cups on it. To Katara’s surprise, he smiled when he saw them.

From so close, he looked a lot less intimidating than what the legends told.

Before he could say anything, Toph exclaimed:

“Wait, that’s the man I met in the forest!”

“It’s nice to see you too” Uncle said as he bowed.

“You two knew each other?” Sokka asked.

“Yeah. He makes really good tea”

Katara looked around the shop.

“I can see that”

“Lucky you”

Katara wasn’t as pleased as Toph to meet Iroh again. She didn’t trust him. Maybe he hadn’t been as bad as Zuko and, yes, he had tried to protect the Moon Spirit, but he had still chased them all over the world. And he was the Fire Nation general that had tormented Ba Sing Se for years.

How many people had he murdered? He’d been a prince. Had he sat down in the Royal Palace while the Water Tribe was being raided?

Katara wasn’t sure she wanted receive training from the Dragon of the West. She desperately wanted to have another option.

As soon as one of the tables was emptied, the four children rushed to sit there. They looked at Iroh with suspicion as he handed them delicate cups and poured tea for them. Zuko stood by the counter. Katara locked eyes with him, and she could almost swear he looked away nervously.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe” Iroh said. “My nephew has told me quite some things about you”

“Did he?” She side-eyed Zuko with suspicion.

“He told me you needed some help with your bending” He said. “I imagine there aren’t many masters that could help you in the South Pole”

Katara bit her lip. Of course there weren’t masters in the South Pole. There weren’t benders of any element in the South Pole. She knew he was talking about firebending masters, but…

“Let’s cut down to business” Sokka intervened. “Can you teach her?”

Iroh placed the teapot on the table. To think just a couple months before he’d been chasing them all over the world, and now he was serving them tea.

“A teacher can open the door, but the student must enter by herself” he said. He looked at Katara. “I can teach you to control your bending, if that’s what you want”

Katara nodded.

“I’m ready”

He asked Katara to help him in the kitchen behind the counter, because it was a little more private and it would give them more freedom to talk without customers hearing them. Aang and Toph were helping Sokka with his haikus back in the table and Zuko was serving tea, still not talking to them.

“When my nephew asked me to come here to help you, I must admit I expected more resistance” Iroh confessed. He handed Katara a bag of leaves.

“I wasn’t sure about this at first” Katara explained. “But after talking about it with my friends, I realized I didn’t have much choice”

“There is always a choice” Iroh corrected cheerfully. “We only stop deciding after we’re dead. Some think not even then” He knocked two spark rocks together to start a fire and heat the water. “Now, what do you need help with?”

“I thought I was learning… bending, but I was wrong” Katara said in low voice, painfully aware of the customers still in the shop. “I had just… found a way to use and avoid it at the same time, and when I tried to fight that way, I couldn’t hold it”

“I see” Iroh said. “It sounds like you have a deep fear of your own bending”

Katara bit her lip. She was getting vulnerable. She didn’t want to get vulnerable. She just wanted to learn.

“I mean, I was supposed to be a waterbender” she reasoned. Iroh handed her a wooden mortar to crush the leaves.

“I’m not surprised you have this reaction, after everything my Nation has done to the Water Tribes” He drank from his tea. “Were you using waterbending forms to firebend?”

Katara nodded.

“I thought that… maybe that way it wouldn’t feel so wrong. I thought I had it, but then...”

“Then you realized that you didn’t understand the element itself” Iroh concluded. He looked at the mortar. “Try grounding them in the opposite direction. It will be easier that way”

Katara tried it, and she realized he was right. Her hand moved in a more comfortable motion.

“It was very wise of you to apply concepts from waterbending to a different kind of bending” Iroh continued. “It’s something that takes most benders from my country many years to accept as a possibility. But you can’t just force fire to act like water. In order to work with the element, you have to understand it before you mold it into something different”

He took the mortar from her hands and put the leaves inside the teapot. There was a small fabric mesh inside to separate the leaves from the water.

“I think I understand” Katara said. “Toph said she learned earthbending from the original earthbenders”

“I see what you mean, and I’m afraid that can’t be possible” Iroh said. And in very low voice, he added: “The original firebenders were the dragons, and they’ve been extinct for decades”

Katara’s shoulders dropped.

Of course she was never going to learn firebending. All that was left of the original firebending was the war-warped abomination the Fire Nation had created.

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn bending” Iroh said.

“You don’t understand” Katara said. She lowered her voice and glanced at the customers. “While we were traveling, we met this man, Jeong Jeong. He was a deserter”

“I know” Iroh nodded. “We used to be great friends”

“Then you must know how he feels about… your country’s bending”

Iroh nodded.

“Jeong Jeong was plagued by a guilt and a self-loathing that I could never help him with, and he only spread it to other people who didn’t deserve it” Iroh said. “I don’t deny his good intentions, but I have never agreed with his point of view”

“He said his bending was a curse” Katara recalled. “And that benders were constantly walking the line between humanity and savagery”

Iroh’s eyes widened.

“He said that to you?” He asked.

Katara nodded.

“That’s such a harmful thing to say to a young bender” Iroh continued. “It tells her that she’s doomed to be a monster without even giving her the option to choose who she will become by her own merits”

“But he wasn’t wrong” Katara argued. “I mean, firebending is very dangerous. If you let it get out of control…”

“Aren’t all the other elements dangerous too?” Iroh questioned. “I don’t think any bending art is inherently good or bad. It’s what you do with it what counts” He extinguished the fire heating the water with a movement of his hand. “A waterbender can drown you at sea. An airbender could take all the air out of your lungs. An earthbender could break all your bones. Even your brother’s boomerang can be dangerous if so he wishes”

Sokka’s head perked up.

“Hey!”

“You may have noticed by my nephew’s behavior” Iroh continued. “But honor in the Fire Nation is of great importance”

“Yeah” Katara glanced at Zuko. “I heard a thing or two about it”

Iroh laughed, not ever offended by her sarcasm.

“Back in Avatar Roku’s time, we were expected to behave honorably, and not use our firebending for selfish reasons or to hurt innocents. Firebending was a great responsibility”

“But it’s not like that anymore”

“Indeed, it’s not” He agreed. “The war has caused the Fire Nation to lose itself. Everything about our culture now revolves around the war. Firebending is not exception”

They just dropped avoiding saying the word ‘firebending’. You couldn’t learn firebending by avoiding firebending.

It had never occurred to Katara that the Fire Nation could be a victim of the war, too. She thought about the men of her tribe who had left to fight, and she wondered if soldiers missed their homes too.

She shook her head. It was stupid to have sympathy for Fire Nations soldiers. They had killed her mother. They took all their waterbenders. They made her into one of _them_.

And what hurt her the worst was that, without all that pain, she wouldn’t even exist.

“What else did Jeong Jeong teach you?” Iroh asked.

“Just control exercises” She replied. “Lots of breathing and meditating”

Iroh nodded.

“Those are good to start” he said. “But I have the feeling you want a little more than that”

“I mean, if we’re running from Azula, I need to know how to fight”

Iroh chuckled.

“You sound just like my nephew”

火

Finding a place to practice firebending was hard.

It was far more risky and far more visible than airbending, and a wooden barn probably wasn’t the best option. They checked the earthbending training grounds, but they were, well, earthbending training grounds, with a lot of earthbenders, and most of them were out in the open. Everyone would see them. They needed a closed space where they could practice by day, because at night, the light would spill through the cracks and slits of doors and windows and give them away.

In the end, they decided to use the tea shop. The owner was almost never around, and Iroh could close it for a few hours at least one day a week to teach Katara.

So for the following two months, the entire gang went once or twice a week to the tea shop so Katara could learn.

The first time she’d been so nervous she lashed out at Sokka and immediately apologized when he asked if she wanted any water. She was learning firebending. Real firebending. From a Fire Nation general. From the _Dragon of the West_, of all generals! Was this a betrayal to her tribe? Was this giving in to the part of her heritage that she hated the most? Would he teach her to be like them?

She had to be extra alert for anything he wanted to teach her that may make her like them.

Once she arrived, they pushed the tables against the walls so they wouldn’t occupy space and put away anything that could be burned. Sokka brought a barrel of water and told Aang to waterbend in the moment things got out of control.

“Firebending comes from the breath” Iroh explained to Katara. “The breath in your body becomes energy, and the energy becomes fire”

He opened a palm and a little flame appeared there. Katara tried breathing like he told her (it felt natural after doing Jeong Jeong’s homework for so many months) and made a little fire of her own. The color was less intense and the light was dimmer. It wasn’t as hot as Iroh’s fire.

“Good, good” He nodded. “What do you know about firebending katas?”

“Not much” Katara confessed. “I found some old firebending scrolls, but I never got around to read them”

That was a lie. She studied the scrolls and then completely disregarded them. She liked her water-fire-bending better.

“Scrolls can be a good source of knowledge” Iroh said. “But they are no substitute for a master”

He proceeded to show her different movements, mostly simple punches and kicks without actual firebending. Katara replicated them with the unique fluidity and grace of a waterbender, and Iroh corrected her every time, demanding more assertiveness.

“You must learn the rules before you break them” He told her.

It was very frustrating. Whenever Katara tried a movement that was more natural to her Iroh insisted she did it the Fire Nation way. She didn’t like it. They spent three whole hours like this, punching and kicking the air uselessly.

“Come back tomorrow” Iroh told to her as the sun began to set. “We can continue later”

He was frustrated with her too, it seemed.

Katara pressed her lips into a thin line.

As they walked back to their house in the Upper Ring, Aang told her about the tricks he taught Zuko. He picked two marbles and made them spin around each other between his hands.

“He thought it was dumb” he said. “But I’ll change his mind”

Katara hadn’t even realized he had been teaching Zuko while she was busy with Iroh.

As the days progressed, she got a little better. She could replicate Iroh’s movements well enough, and she started practicing with fire. It was bright yellow and it still moved like a liquid, a sea of sun. Iroh admired her creativity but insisted that she learned traditional firebending as well.

“You lack assertiveness” He told her one day.

“I do _not_!” Katara protested.

“Hmm, you’re right. Perhaps assertiveness in not the right word” He agreed, scratching his chin. “You’re still thinking like a waterbender. You have to think like a firebender”

“And how do firebenders think, exactly?” She asked, crossing her arms.

Iroh punched the air in her general direction, creating a small puff of fire. The movement was dry, precise and direct.

“Fire is the element of power” He said. “The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will and the energy and drive to achieve anything”

“Like conquering the world?”

“Like stopping a war, for example” He walked up to the counter and poured himself some tea. “What do you desire the most, Katara?”

Katara bit her lip and realized she didn’t know how to answer that question. She wanted her mother back, but she couldn’t have that. So she opted for the other option:

“I just want this war to be over”

He handed her a cup and she drank the hot beverage.

“From what I’ve heard of you, I think you have a strong sense of justice” he said.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because you left your home just to help the Avatar. And I’ve heard about the earthbending prison incident. You have a lot of courage” He took a step towards her. “And let me tell you something: fire is the element of courage, too”

Courage?

Courage, will, energy, drive. She remembered leading the earthbenders to freedom when she tried to save Haru, and she recalled her demands to the Northern Water Tribe to let women waterbend. Strangely, she thought about her fight with Azula. She had no chance at beating the Princess, but when she saw Aang in danger, none of that mattered. Whenever she saw Aang or Sokka or even Toph in danger… well, she would never let anyone take her family away from her. Ever.

_Courage_. She the sound of the word.

Katara looked at her tea, then at her friends. Zuko had been forcefully pulled into a Pai-Sho game by Toph and he was losing embarrassingly while giving Sokka killer glares. Aang looked just happy to play, and he was telling Zuko stories about the Air Nomads. At this rate, they’d end up becoming world champions at Pai-Sho.

“My nephew had the same problem” Iroh said. “He was so scared of his own airbending, he was unable to learn”

“How did he do it, then?” She asked. “Surely he must have learned something with you. I’ve seen him airbend before”

“He still has a long way to go” He said. “Why don’t you ask them? I’m sure you two would understand each other well”

Katara wasn’t so sure, but if he could help her learn firebending, then it was worth a shot.

Was she really taking firebending training from the Dragon of the West and the Fire Prince now? When had her life turned into _this_?

She crossed her arms.

“Why did you accede to teach me?” She asked.

“Because…” Iroh said. “Because I recognized in you the same pain I saw in my nephew”

“I’m not your niece”

“You are not, indeed” He chuckled. “My niece is a lot… harsher than you”

The tea shop was completely empty apart from them. The walls and the lighting were Earth Kingdom green. Zuko and Iroh’s beige clothes had Earth Kingdom designs on the seams and hems.

She was training with the Dragon of the West.

“You lead a siege on Ba Sing Se some years ago” Katara stated.

Iroh nodded slowly.

“It is one of my greatest regrets”

Katara turned to face him. She didn’t believe that.

“Attacking Ba Sing Se?”

“Partially, yes” He said. “I now understand that this war is pointless. But what caused me the most pain was the loss of my son, Lu Ten” Katara didn’t miss his glance at Zuko. “He was part of the siege. Had I not committed such a crime, he may still be alive today” The crime of taking his son to such point. He drank his tea. “His birthday was a few days ago”

Katara felt like a hand was clutching her heart. Iroh’s voice was charged with so much pain and grief, and it was a grief she recognized well.

“I’m sorry”

“I’m sorry too” He said. “I dropped the siege after that. I didn’t want to be part of this war anymore”

“So you’re not with the Fire Nation?” Katara asked. He and his nephew had been trying to capture Aang for months!

“The Fire Nation has labeled us as traitors and put a price to our heads” He left his empty cup on the counter. “But even before that, I could see my country was not what I thought”

“Then why did you and Zuko try to capture Aang?”

Iroh looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.

“My nephew’s mission was not based on loyalty for Fire Nation ideals”

Katara remembered the Northern Tribe’s prison, Zuko, and the yelling. He couldn’t go home without the Avatar.

“He wants to go home, doesn’t he?”

Iroh sighed.

“I don’t think I’m the one you should be discussing this with” He glanced at Zuko.

He made some more tea and offered Katara a cup. She politely accepted it.

“What the Fire Nation has become is a curse and a poison for the world” Iroh said. “The reason why I’m helping you is because I am glad to have met a firebender such as you. The world needs firebenders with an honorable heart” He looked at Zuko. “Just like the Fire Nation needs citizens that will challenge it when it’s going the wrong way”

Katara looked at Zuko and saw his scar. Zuko? A challenger? Sure. But challenging the Fire Nation? Was that why he’d been banished?

Well, she guessed his whole existence was a challenge to the Fire Nation. An Airbending banished prince who was now a refugee in Ba Sing Se. Suddenly, his crazy goose chase for the missing Avatar almost made sense. He wanted to prove himself to his country, didn’t he?

“You two are not so different” Iroh said. “I think you could learn a lot from each other”

Katara thought about it for a moment. Later, she sat next to Aang and opposite to Zuko.

“Mind if I join?”

“Don’t you have fire sparky practice?” Sokka asked.

Iroh seemed to have heard him.

“Don’t underestimate the power of Pai-Sho as a learning tool” He said. “You would be surprised”

“It’s just a dumb tiles game” Sokka complained.

“You’re just bitter because you can’t win!” Toph snickered. “You all owe me money now”

They left once they finished the game, with Toph winning one more time. Katara took the chance to talk with Zuko.

“Zuko” She sighed with resignation. “I wanted to ask you something”

“What is it?” He asked. His voice had no emotion.

Katara glanced at Aang.

“How did you do it?” She asked. “How do you master an element that’s not your own?”

“Oh”

He looked down, as if trying to come up with an answer.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered it” He said.

“No, no, I know” Katara half-teased him, not missing his glare. “Your uncle thought it would be a good idea if I asked you about it”

“He’s usually right” Zuko confessed. “Even if I don’t always like what he says”

They were standing behind the counter of the shop. His hair had grown a little during the last seven weeks of practice.

“I think…” He started. “When I first started, I had this block and I couldn’t do anything. Everything I did kept backfiring. But… then I tried to focus on something from when I was little”

“What was it?”

He took in a deep breath.

“Back when my mother was still around” he said. “We… huh… My dad thought I was a non-bender, so he never really paid much attention to me. My mom tended to take me out of the Palace to go to this place, Ember Island. It was always only the two of us, and we would start this big bonfire on the beach every night” the ghost of a smile crossed his expression. “She was the only one who knew about my airbending, so once we were alone, I would play with it. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot easier to airbend back then, too. I think it was because… because I felt very happy and free. Uncle said Air was the element of freedom, and… I think I wasn’t scared of it yet”

Air is the element of freedom. Fire was the element of power.

_(And courage, too)._

Weren’t freedom and courage kind of the same thing?

“Yet?”

“Yeah…” He scratched the back of his neck. “One day when I was like six or seven, my mom took me on a ship to this place, I don’t know where, and when we came back, she started to teach me rules to keep my airbending a secret”

Oh.

“I think… That was when I realized it was a bad thing” He said. “And I started to deny it. Whenever I have problems airbending, I try to remember being with my mom in Ember Island”

Katara stared at him.

That was… a lot of information she didn’t expect.

He was so different when he wasn’t angry.

She thanked him and, after she left, she spent the whole night awake thinking about it.

Zuko’s voice had been low instead of the usual barks and snarls. He’d been vulnerable to her.

His mother…

Was she dead? He said she wasn’t around anymore. He also said she’d been the only one to know his secret, and that she was trying to protect him.

Did his mother die to protect him?

Seeing Zuko opening up and being hurt by the absence of his mother… well… it made him seem a lot more human to Katara’s eyes. He’d told her all of that just to help her with her firebending, even if his advice had been useless in the end. She had no happy memories of firebending.

風

Zuko wasn’t sure why he had opened up to Katara so quickly, but telling her felt strangely liberating. She had lost her mother too, hadn’t she?

Playing Pai-Sho those last days with the Avatar and his friends was weird. Both parties had raised white flags and played games during a truce. Training with the Avatar was fun and they were… they were really nice to him when they weren’t fighting. They had quickly realized he wasn’t going to attack them anytime soon and allowed themselves to relax around him. Toph and Sokka teased him mercilessly and Aang tried to make a history class out of every interaction. He never missed the opportunity to tell him something about Air Nomad culture, or about airbending, or about the Nomad’s philosophy. He told him about how they were always traveling, and how the Flying Bisons were such an important part of their culture. How they didn’t eat meat because they valued all life so much, how the men shaved their heads to feel the wind better, what the tattoos meant, what different gestures meant, how peace and love and kindness were the most important things in the world, and how important it was to preserve these teachings.

He remembered Sela’s husband’s words_. “The world needs the airbenders”._

Zuko didn’t understand. He’d been taught the Air Nomads were planning on attacking the Fire Nation. He was told they had a giant army, that they enjoyed pulling the oxygen out of the lungs of their enemies, that they didn’t care about their children and that parents abandoned them to be raised by cruel nuns and monks.

Aang didn’t have parents, but Zuko did, and it wasn’t a mystery which one had the happiest childhood.

Everything they told him about the Air Nomads was a lie.

Was this the people that his forefathers destroyed? Were the people they killed like Aang?

How could they do that?

He wondered with a shiver of horror, what would they do to Aang once they captured him?

Zuko felt like they had just pulled the rug from under his feet. His plan consisted on learning airbending and, as soon as he got good enough, capture the Avatar and bring him home. He wanted to go home. He was closer than ever.

His home, which had murdered so many people and conquered half the world. The people who had taken his mother and which now wanted to kidnap the last Air Nomad boy and do to him what they did to his people.

Would they kill him? He didn’t want Aang to die. He was sweet and cheerful and innocent and infinitely hopeful and he just wanted peace between the nations. The thought of Aang dying made his heart stop.

He didn’t know what he wanted anymore

火

The routine continued for another full month: twice a week, they would meet up at the tea house for a couple hours, and the rest of the days Zuko trained with Aang in the barn. He was getting very good at it, and Katara wondered if this was his way of keeping his mother’s memory with him. Meanwhile, Katara repeated the katas Iroh taught her and even learned new ones, maybe not thinking of happy memories firebending, because she barely had any, but she recalled what Zuko told her about feeling free and happy and not scared, and she thought about all the times she had felt courageous before: Freeing Haru, stopping Jet, protecting Yue and Aang, standing up against the Council at the North, pushing through her fears for Aang back in the Cave of the Two lovers to light the path, fighting Azula…

She then started to think less about the past and more about the future: beating Azula, ending the war, seeing Aang become a fully realized Avatar, making her father proud, proving her village she was still the same person she’d always been, saving the world. Less about memory and more about ambition.

And now, learning firebending from the Dragon of the West. It was scary, yes, especially in Ba Sing Se, where the slightest accident could set the Dai Li after her. It was _terrifying_, even. And she’d done plenty of terrifying things before. This was something she had to do.

She invoked that sense of ambition, the desire for justice, that rightful anger— _“The strongest firebending is always powered by anger”_— because perhaps anger was not an evil emotion, and channeled it into her fire.

She could do it. She could do it.

Quick as lighting she drew arches of fire above her head, kicking and punching and jumping as flames surged from her hands. Iroh attacked her, and she quickly dispersed the fire coming towards her, responding by kicking close to the ground and raising a sharp wall of fire. Iroh was forced to take a step back.

Katara smirked. She was getting good at it.

Iroh clapped.

“Very well” He said. “You’ve made great progress these last months”

“I had a good teacher” she bowed.

Aang and Sokka cheered from their seats.

And Zuko was doing really well, for a prince. Back in the barn, Zuko and Aang chased each other through the posts that held the roof above their heads, the balcony and onto the roof through the hole in the ceiling. It was incredibly fun to be able to freely leap from one side of the balcony to the other, flying ten yards across the air and up onto the ceiling.

And once he was up there, under the sunlight and with the wind blowing on his face, he felt _free_. He felt like he could just… jump and fly and go anywhere he wanted. He could fly back home.

That day, Aang had something special for him.

They sat cross-legged on the roof, facing each other. Aang held his staff for Zuko to see.

“The monks used to give us this once we mastered enough airbending forms” He explained. “It’s a glider. You can use it to fly”

Zuko realized Aang was offering it to him, and he hesitantly took it from his hands.

“This may not be the last glider there is” He said. “I’m sure there must be others still hidden in the temples. We can get you one someday”

He stood up and extended a hand for Zuko to hand him the glider. He showed him a quick movement and a button to press it order to open it, and soon two wide orange wings surged from the wood. They vaguely resembled a flying fish’s fins. Aang showed him how to hold onto the glider and how to move with it.

“I think you’re ready to try it” he said.

“Really?”

Zuko gently held the glider. It was an ancient relic, and he was scared of breaking it.

“Just jump like I showed you!” Aang said. “And airbend with it”

Zuko took it with hesitance and held it above him the way Aang had shown him. All it would take would be one leap, and he could fly. His heart beat furiously. This Air Nomad relic would let him soar the skies.

_“And the third rule, my love…”_

He remembered the Royal Palace, the marble floors and the high, dark ceiling. All the light came from the fire and nothing came through the windows. He thought about his mother, and how tightly she held him, so tight it hurt, to the point he couldn’t breathe. He thought about topknots and red robes and golden jewelry, about spicy food and songs about war and how his mother had in such a quiet voice taught him for the first time the rules that would keep him hidden and safe.

He couldn’t do it.

He handed the glider back to Aang.

“I don’t think I’m ready” He confessed, embarrassed.

“Oh” Aang mumbled. “It’s okay. Whenever you’re ready” He snapped it back into a staff. “You know, the monks used to say it’s never too late to learn. It doesn’t matter if you were raised in the Fire Nation”

Zuko didn’t know how to reply.

They sat back down on the roof.

“We need to visit the temples someday” Aang said. “I may have mastered airbending, but I still have a lot to learn”

“I went to the temples, looking for you” Zuko said, and cursed himself for making it sound awkwardly intimate. “I mean… when I was looking for the Avatar, I thought it would be smart to search the Air Temples”

“What did you find?”

“Just old stuff. I didn’t touch anything, if that’s what you’re worried about”

“And did you…” Aang looked for the right words. “Did you feel some sort of connection to them?”

Zuko grimaced.

“I… I don’t know” he confessed. “I mean, my mom always told me not to associate myself with the Air Nomads. She told me it wasn’t part of me, so I guess I pushed everything away”

Aang’s expression was shocked and sad.

“You know it _is_ part of you, right?”

Zuko bit down his lip.

“Zuko, we’re the last Air Nomads left” Aang said. “You’re the last of my p—”

“I’m not an Air Nomad” Zuko cut him off, suddenly giving him a killer glare. “I’m Fire Nation. I’m the Prince”

Aang swallowed.

“But you’re an airbender!” He insisted. “We’re the only ones left! We need to bring the Air Nomads back”

“_We_?”

Aang looked heartbroken, almost on the verge of tears.

“If we don’t save the Air Nomads, then our people will be gone forever! Zuko, we _have_ to do this!”

“I’m not an Air Nomad! They’re _your_ people, not mine!” He stood up suddenly. “Once this is over, I’m going back _home_, to the Fire Nation”

Aang swallowed, realization dawning on him.

“You still want to capture me, don’t you?” He quickly got to his feet.

Zuko was left without words. He did. He didn’t. He didn’t know. The idea both excited him and terrified him. He wanted to go _home_, except he didn’t. He didn’t. He really didn’t know.

“I don’t know” He confessed.

“Why do you want to capture me so much?” Aang demanded. “I’m just trying to end the war! Don’t you want the war to be over?”

“Of course I do!”

“Then why, Zuko?”

Zuko inhaled sharply.

“Because I was banished” He said. “After the Agni Kai. You know this. I can’t go home or regain my honor until I bring the Avatar with me. Only then, my father will love me”

_Accept_ him. He meant to say that only then his father would _accept him_. The word ‘love’ escaped his lips before he realized he was saying it.

Aang took a step back, and Zuko realized he had never shared the details of his banishment with him.

He was suddenly painfully aware of how selfish he sounded. Aang could stop the war and save the world, and Zuko just wanted to go home.

He ran a hand through his hair.

He didn’t know. He didn’t know. Someone please help him.

Aang licked his lips nervously.

“The Air Nomads…” he started. “We had this saying… ‘Home in on the bison’s back’. The Temples were just where kids were raised, but we were always moving and… We just built a home wherever we were. We didn’t need a single place”

“I’m not an Air Nomad, Aang”

Aang went silent for a moment.

“Do you miss your palace?” He asked.

Did Zuko miss the palace? The hard walls and the silent halls and feeling always alone and always observed?

“I don’t know”

“Do you miss your family?”

Zuko knew what he was thinking about. Aang was thinking about the father who had burned his son for speaking out of turn and the sister who tried to kill him for being an airbender.

“I don’t know! I…” Zuko shook his head. “I’m… I’m scared of them” 

_I don’t want them to hurt me_.

He sat back down. He wasn’t going to cry. He was _not_ going to cry.

But still, a single tear fell down his left eye, running down his cheek. He was going to wipe it away when he felt Aang’s thumb run across his cheek, barely brushing against his scar and drying the tear from his face.

The single tender gesture only made him want to cry harder.

And he did cry. He cried harder than he ever had. He couldn’t even breathe between sobs.

His father and sister wanted him dead. His mother was gone. His uncle was still with him.

_“Dad’s going to kill you!”_

A pair of arms wrapped around him.

Azula’s mocking voice as she imitated their grandfather:

_“You must know the pain of losing a firstborn son by sacrificing your own!”_

That same night, their grandfather had died and his mother had disappeared.

_(What had she done?)_

His grandfather had really ordered his death.

His father was actually going to kill him.

He was—he had _always_ wanted him dead. He had always hated him, airbender or not, with or without honor… And Azula’s laughter at the idea of them killing him, laughing as she watched him be burned.

_Burned, burned, it hurt so much…_

He was a worthless sack of bones to them. His life was as expendable as a copper piece. It had always been and it would always be.

Aang held him as he cried, and Zuko let himself bury his face on his shoulder.

Why did he hold him? He was _worthless_. Couldn’t he see? He should be dead. A waste of air.

But Aang didn’t seem to think he was worthless. Aang trusted he could still bring the Air Nomads back. He saw worth in him.

After a few minutes, Zuko stopped crying, and he wiped his tears away. He refused to look at Aang in the eye. He had been weak by crying in front of him, but Aang didn’t look angry or disappointed, just worried.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

Zuko glanced at the staff, lying on the ground.

火

On their free moments, when they weren’t training, they looked for Appa.

Aang talked to almost anyone they saw, asking if they had seen a flying bison. They hung posters on walls and consulted with the police every now and then. Aang flew from roof to roof with his glider, a restless orange blur. He spent whole days walking and flying through the city, but when the night came, he walked into the house with tired shoulders and bags under his eyes. Looking hopeless and defeated. Katara hugged him, and then Sokka and Toph and Momo joined them.

The routine was repeated the next day.

Aang parted early in the morning to soar above the Agrarian Zone and talk to the farmers, check the barns with or without permission and walk the edge of the Outer Wall to observe the desert that expanded below his feet past the horizon. He blew on his bison whistle and pushed the wind as far away as possible, hoping to bring the sound to Appa’s ears, wherever he was.

Night fell, and he dragged his feet to Iroh’s teashop, where Katara was practicing firebending. He didn’t play Pai-Sho with Sokka and Toph or tell Zuko about the teachings of the monks that day.

The routine was repeated the next day.

He talked to the cops, to the chief of police of Ba Sing Se, to the Dai Li he found in the street, to people who had connection to the police or the Dai Li. He talked to Long Feng. He was growing desperate. Long Feng said nothing. Aang then demanded to talk to the Earth King. Appa had been lost so that they could talk to the Earth King. His loss couldn’t be in vain and the Black Sun was closer with every passing day. He’d spent four months in Ba Sing Se already. Four months without Appa. Four months alone.

Long Feng said nothing, again, and told him to go home. It was getting late.

Aang walked back home. He didn’t use his glider. As soon as he walked in he collapsed into Katara’s arms.

Sometimes, Aang cried in his sleep. Not everyone always noticed, but he could remember being comforted at least twice by each of his friends, woken up by his little cries. Toph had been there for him the most, since she was the one with the lightest sleep. But Toph didn’t know how to comfort people, so Aang often went to sleep sad anyways. Eve when Katara was the one to hold him until he fell asleep, it didn’t make him feel much better. He cried and cried until he couldn’t breathe because he just missed Appa so much. They were supposed to be together forever. Appa was the only other one from the past, the only one who remembered the world before. The only one from Aang’s old world. And now he was gone, and so was his world, and so were the Air Nomads. Gone, forever.

And Aang was utterly alone.

He woke up feeling hopeless and defeated the next day.

The routine was repeated the next day.

火

With time, Iroh got his own tea shop in the Upper Ring, and Katara was more excited than she would ever admit.

One of the reasons why she couldn’t fight a lot was because the old tea shop was way too small and exposed, but with Iroh being the owner of his own shop, he could close and open whenever he wanted, have all the security (or lack of thereof) he wanted, and all the space two firebenders training will need to train.

The new shop in the Upper Ring was beautiful. The soft green walls and the lighting made it very welcoming, and a green rug with a dragon in gold on it covered the ground.

The Jasmine Dragon.

Katara noticed the lack of wood in the place, except for the furniture, which could easily be pushed away.

And there were so many people! It was as if the entire city had been waiting for this day. The rich men and women who had been dying to try the tea but didn’t want to be seen in poor neighborhoods were the majority, while the poor families who visited in the Lower Ring weren’t there anymore.

It was kind of sad.

The shop was closed after a full day of drinking tea, playing Pai-Sho and messing around the place. They had decided to pay Iroh (and Zuko) a visit, and now Aang was talking to a very attentive Zuko by the counter. They both looked worried. When Katara got the chance, she walked up to Zuko asked him what was going on.

“Aang was telling me about Appa” he said. “He’s worried about him”

Appa. Right.

Zuko’s airbending training could only serve as a distraction so much. The pain of Appa’s loss never left Aang.

“We haven’t seen him in months” Katara told him. Truth be told, she was worried sick about Appa too. Without him, they couldn’t travel. “We still need to talk to the Earth King” she added, for some reason.

Zuko raised his good eyebrow.

“For what? Did something happen?”

Katara froze.

Right. They hadn’t told him about the plan.

“Oh, just… Avatar stuff” She said. It wasn’t exactly a lie.

Zuko gave her a suspicious look, but didn’t question further.

“This is a great day” He said after a moment. Katara cocked her head. Did she listen correctly?

“What?”

Zuko smiled.

“My Uncle has wanted to have his own teashop for ages” He said. “I’m happy for him”

Katara hadn’t known Zuko to be happy for… well, anything.

“Are you feeling okay?” She asked.

“I never felt better”

There wasn’t a trace of sarcasm in his voice.

Was this the same boy that had yelled at her in the ice cells?

She needed to talk to Sokka and Toph. Putting strange herbs on someone’s tea wasn’t nice.

Once all clients were gone, they pushed the tables aside and rolled up the carpet so it wouldn’t get burned.

Katara was itching for a good fight.

And a good fight it was.

With so much space, she moved like a tornado, raising walls of fire and dispersing anything that Iroh had to give her. She created a perfect shield like he’d taught her, and her punches were quick and decisive. When he sent a fireball in her direction, she simply twisted her arms around herself and redirected it towards him.

“Very smart” Iroh complimented. “That was a waterbending move, wasn’t it?”

“It just came natural” Katara excused herself.

“It was very resourceful” Iroh nodded with respect. “In fact, I think you’re ready for a challenge”

Before Katara got the chance to ask about it, she saw Zuko walking up to them. He was holding Aang’s staff.

Oh, great!

She would get her revenge.

“I was thinking…” Zuko started. “If I’m going to fight my sister, I need to learn how to fight against a firebender”

Katara smirked.

“I’ll be happy to beat you this time”

They adopted a fighting stance. Katara struck first, and Zuko quickly spun around, evading the fire. But he wasn’t as evasive as Aang, and he quickly responded by brandishing the staff and dispersing Katara’s fire. Before she could recover, he gave an impossible jump forward and with the palms open, he directed a blast of air in her direction. It almost knocked her off her feet, but she refused to lose to Zuko, and she replicated that move he always did, on the ground and kicking the air, raising brutal spirals of fire he barely managed to avoid. He moved in a way that looked a lot like a firebending kata and the air blew all the fire back towards Katara. She dispersed it with her hands.

She was _not_ losing against Zuko again!

She raised her hands like a wave, invoking her teardrop of sun, and the fire moved like a hurricane towards Zuko. His air blasts couldn’t disperse it this time, and the impact of trying to block it threw him to the ground.

She won!

She walked up to Zuko with a cocky grin.

“That was for chasing us all over the world”

He smirked back as he stood up.

“I thought it was because of the time I beat you in the barn”

“But _I_ won this time”

She won! She won a sparring match with firebending!

She offered him a hand and he surprisingly took it. She helped him to his feet.

It was getting late and it wasn’t safe to firebend at night— someone could see the light coming from the shop—, so Iroh taught her a final exercise, one that she had to practice without creating light.

“My niece has mastered what it’s called Lightning Bending” He told her. “It’s an extremely advanced form of firebending that only a few very powerful masters can learn”

“I don’t think I’m ready” Katara said, looking down.

“I would never push you so far” Iroh reassured her. “You’re a very good firebender, but you’re not a master yet. But what I’m about to teach you should interest you. After all, I learned it studying waterbenders”

Katara’s head perked up. Anything to do with waterbenders must be good.

Lightning redirection. Iroh was walking about redirecting lightning. The energy must flow through her arm and to her stomach, to leave through the other arm without passing through the heart. That way, not only she could survive a lightning strike, but she could have a lightning of her own.

Iroh refused to teach her with any real lightning. Instead, he showed her the katas, the movements, the breathing, how she had to move the chi through her body in order to perform the move harmlessly. Night had already fallen an hour ago when he considered it was enough practice for the day.

“One last thing” He said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to face him. “If I’m ever not around and Azula finds you and your friends, you will be the only one standing between the Avatar and her lightning”

Katara understood. She nodded and bowed to Iroh goodbye.

She would protect Aang with her life.

She and her friends left shortly after.

Zuko watched them leave with a tinge of disappointment. It was nice having them around. Whenever they left, he secretly wished they’d stay for five more minutes.

This time, though, he had something else to think about.

He held his mask with one hand and the missing person poster for Appa on the other.

風

Finding Appa had been easier than Zuko expected.

He followed the Dai Li to Lake Laogai, and made his way down the dark hallways and into the gigantic cell.

He had never seen Appa from so close. He was bigger than Zuko remembered, a huge white flurry beast with six legs. He looked thinner and dirtier, too.

When Appa saw him, he growled. When Zuko showed his face, he whimpered and tried to crawl away from him, but the steel cuffs around each of his legs kept him in place. The animal shrieked in sheer terror at the sight of Zuko’s swords, so he quickly sheathed them, putting them out of sight.

He remembered what Aang told him about Air Nomads and flying bisons. They were so important to them, and he could see why.

This animal was caged in a way too small cell, away from the sky, where he belonged. He longed for freedom, just like the Air Nomads did. This wasn’t right. To hold him like this was almost unnatural.

Zuko thought about the Fire Palace, about his father and about his mother’s rules.

(Had he been born one hundred years earlier, he would have a flying bison just like Appa. He would feel the connection Aang felt to his own flying bison. And maybe then, he could be free).

“It’s okay…” He tried to calm Appa down, but in the moment he tried to touch him, he only growled louder and twitched away from Zuko’s touch. He was smarter than he looked. “Shhh! Be quiet! I’m going to get you out!”

The swords were too big, but his knife was perfect for picking up locks as big as the ones on Appa’s cuffs. It took about an hour, because Appa wouldn’t stop moving, but as he realized Zuko was just trying to help, he started to calm down.

“Aang is going to be so happy to see you” He said, hoping that Appa understood as well as he seemed to understand. “He’s been so worried about you”

Appa growled tiredly.

“You know, I’m an airbender, just like him! You and I could be friends!”

Why was he saying the kinds of things Aang would say?

Appa shifted, but didn’t growl.

His fur was greasy and dirty from lack of care, and he was definitely way too thin. He had wounds all over. Wherever he’d been, he had been abused brutally. Zuko felt a wave of sympathy towards the poor animal who just wanted to be free.

Once he finished with the cuffs, he expected Appa to fly away in the moment, but the animal stood there.

“You can go now” Zuko said. “Go find Aang”

Appa growled again, and moved his huge head in a strange way, as if trying to tell Zuko something.

Zuko thought he understood, and using airbending, he jumped on top of Appa, like he’d seen Aang do a million times before.

And _then_ Appa busted out of the cell.

火

Toph sat up suddenly.

“There’s someone coming” She said.

Just seconds later, there was a knock on the door.

“Told you”

Aang stood up tiredly and opened the door without checking through the window first.

Zuko was standing there, waiting for him.

“I have something to show you”

火

Katara couldn’t believe it.

Aang probably _could_ believe it, knowing him. Part of him had always believed in Zuko, even since before he had any reasons to. But Katara? Katara didn’t believe it even when it was pushed right in front of her face.

“Appa!”

Appa. In the barn. Zuko had found Appa and brought him to the barn.

Aang immediately jumped to hug the bison.

“I missed you so much, buddy!” He exclaimed. “Where have you been?”

“He was being kept in the dungeons under Lake Laogai by the Dai Li” Zuko explained. That left Katara with more questions than answers, so Zuko had to explain further: “The Dai Li kidnapped him. They knew where he was all along”

“Wait, Long Feng knew where Appa was?” Aang asked, incredulous. “Why would they hide him?”

“I don’t know” Zuko confessed.

Katara feared for the worst.

風

Aang slept in the barn that night. They couldn’t take Appa to their house in the Upper Ring, so they had to keep him hidden there. Aang was just happy to cuddle up on Appa’s side.

And because they didn’t want to leave Aang alone, his friends decided to sleep in the barn for the night, too.

“Okay, but just tonight” Sokka declared.

They’d come around.

Zuko was there, too. He wasn’t sleeping in the barn, but he wanted to check on Appa, it seemed. Aang looked at him from his place on Appa’s back.

“Why did you free him?” He asked.

Zuko looked up at him.

“I couldn’t let him trapped there” He said. “It wasn’t right”

Aang stroked Appa’s fur tenderly. He was so happy to have him back!

There was something Aang wanted to say, but he wasn’t sure how. Zuko could have let him locked there or used him as a trap. By bringing Appa back to Aang, he only gave them a way to leave Ba Sing Se and make it harder for him to capture them.

Did he not want to capture them anymore?

“Zuko?”

“Yeah?”

He looked so different from the boy he met months before. More at peace. Happier.

“Nothing” Aang couldn’t find the words.

Zuko left shortly after. Aang wished he’d stayed the night.

火

“I think Zuko should come with us”

Katara looked up from her bowl of food to stare at Aang with wide eyes.

“What?”

“What!?” Sokka exclaimed.

“Guys, he’s changed” Aang argued. “I don’t think he wants to capture us anymore”

They were all gathered around a little campfire Katara had started near the corner of the barn. Aang was leaning against Appa.

“Huh, have you forgotten that..?” Sokka made a cross gesture with his arms. “Fire Nation. Bad”

“Come on, guys. I’ve been training him for months, and I don’t think he support the Fire Nation anymore”

“Aang, I know you like him” Katara said, and Aang blushed at the possible implications. “But he can’t change loyalties that fast”

“Well, he was sincere when he brought Appa” Toph supplied. “If he had any ulterior motives, my feet would know”

“And why would he bring Appa back if he still wanted to capture us?” Aang insisted. “He told me the only reason why he wanted to capture me was so that he could go back home”

“Home. To the _Fire Nation”_ Sokka repeated.

Aang didn’t want to tell them Zuko had cried. He felt like it was a way too personal thing. But he did tell them:

“I think he realized that… well…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “His dad is pretty bad”

“No kidding” Katara said.

“I think he’s realizing we’re the good guys and that he should help us. Why would he bring Appa if he didn’t?”

“For all we know, _he_ was the one who had Appa all along” Sokka said. “This could be a trap”

Katara touched his arm.

“I’m sorry, Aang”

Aang pulled his knees to his chest.

“It’s okay”

風

The sight of Azula nearly gave him a heart attack.

He couldn’t move or breathe, just stare as his sister as the Dai Li agents surrounded them.

“Have you met the Dai Li?” She asked with a cruel smirk. “They’re earthbenders, but they have a killer instinct that’s so _firebender_. I just love it”

Even the Dai Li were more firebender _(more human)_ to Azula than Zuko.

Zuko exchanged a knowing look with Uncle. He gave a tiny smirk before ducking down.

Fire surged from Uncle’s mouth, like a dragon, hitting the Dai Li before they had the chance to avoid it. It gave them the opening to run for the door.

“Don’t let them get out!” Azula commanded. “Or you’ll be the ones to suffer their destiny”

Uncle invoked lighting and hit the wall just in time to jump. He hit the ground with a painful thud while Zuko leaped perfectly across the air.

“I see my half-breed brother has learned a new trick” Azula sneered. “Don’t worry. I have something under my sleeve too”

She pointed two fingers at him and a white lighting snapped in his direction. Zuko just barely managed to jump to avoid it.

“Get the airbender!” She barked. “Do _not_ let him escape”

“Zuko, go!” Uncle yelled. “Go warn your friends!”

Zuko didn’t have time to argue that they weren’t his friends. That didn’t matter. He just nodded and leaped on top of a building, racing towards the Avatar’s house.

火

Katara was the one to open the door.

“Zuko?” She frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s Azula” He said, breathing heavily from running. “She’s here, in Ba Sing Se. The Dai Li respond to her now”

“What?” Aang showed up from behind Katara. “What’s Azula doing here?”

“It looks like she wants to take Ba Sing Se from the inside”

“A coup” Katara deduced. Zuko nodded.

“She’s coming after Aang”

Aang locked eyes with Katara.

“We can’t leave” He said. “Not now. Ba Sing Se is in danger”

“What about the Kyoshi Warriors?” She asked. “Suki’s at the palace, right?”

“We need to warn them”

“We need to talk to the Earth King” Katara reminded him. “We still haven’t told him about—”

She stopped and glanced at Zuko.

“You go warn the Earth King” Zuko said. “He’ll listen to you. And I’ll go after Azula”

“Zuko, no” Aang said. “We can’t let you go alone”

_She’s going to kill you_, he wanted to say, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“We can split up” Katara suggested. “I’ll go with Zuko. You find Sokka and Toph and talk to the Earth King. They must all be at the palace, so we’ll meet there”

No. Aang didn’t want to split up. He didn’t want to put Katara in danger.

But Katara was strong, and she was proving herself an excellent firebender. She looked at him with such assertiveness and determination, she reminded him of vaguely of the Kyoshi Warriors. When she set herself to achieve something, she became invincible.

“Okay” He agreed after a moment. “I trust you”

They shared a quick hug before Aang picked his glider and flew towards the palace. Katara and Zuko left to find Azula.

“She sent the Dai Li after me” He told her, and with the tiniest smirk, he added: “How do you see yourself fighting earthbenders?”

Katara returned the smirk. This was going to be fun. Getting her revenge for getting beat by Azula months before would be the highlight of her day.

While Aang flew to the King’s chambers, Katara and Zuko planned to go to the Throne Room, but the palace was surrounded by Dai Li agents. It was impossible to get in or get out. She wondered if Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors were okay.

“We can’t take them out on our own” Zuko whispered. They were observing from the palace’s garden, hidden behind a bush.

“We need a distraction”

Where was Sokka when you needed him?

Zuko closed his eyes.

“They’re after me” He said. “I’ll distract them. You get inside and put Azula in her place for me”

They exchanged a quick smirk.

“It will be a pleasure”

But Katara soon realized the implications of his plan. Her smirk disappeared.

“What if they catch you?”

“They won’t” Zuko reassured her. “Airbender, remember? I’ll just fly away from them. I won’t let my sister kill me”

Katara’s stomach dropped.

Zuko wasn’t a master airbender, and he didn’t have a glider. They would catch him. He was going to be killed.

By his own sister.

“What do you mean?” Katara asked. “Your sister…?”

“She has orders to kill me” Zuko explained. “Having an airbender prince is a disgrace for the Royal Family”

He said it as if it was the most normal, natural thing in the world. Her stomach dropped.

“I’ll meet with you soon. You go”

His sister was the Princess. The only person who could order the Princess around would be the Fire Lord.

Their father.

Zuko was going to be killed by his own _father_.

The sheer horror that invaded Katara paralyzed her for a moment. She couldn’t wrap her head around a father killing his son. It was unnatural.

But Zuko was already jumping and flying on top of the roofs, leaning above the Dai Li’s before striking. He attacked them from above, and they shot their earth gloves towards him, without hitting him in any moment. He then ran, and jumped, and flew right above them, and they had no option but to chase after him, leaving the gates unprotected.

Katara let out a quivering sight.

She had to face Azula.

火

Aang glided towards the Earth King’s chambers only to find them empty. Bosco the bear was there, sleeping. But Aang looked closer, and he realized the bear wasn’t breathing. It was lying on a puddle of red. His heart stopped with horror at the realization.

He needed to find Toph and Sokka.

火

Sneaking into the palace hadn’t been that hard. She had to be quick and silent and move decisively. If she hesitated and stayed hidden behind the same pillar or under the same table for long enough, the Dai Li agents racing around the place would find her. She needed to get to the Throne Room and not stop until she found it.

She made no noise as she walked, tip-toeing towards the big doors.

Fear gripped her heart. She was going to face Azula, the Fire Princess. She has been learning firebending for only three months, while the Princess had been training for her whole life. She couldn’t do it. She was going to die.

But she couldn’t afford to be scared. There was no time or space for fear and no time to let herself be so scared she would bow to the Fire Princess. This was something she _had_ to do, whether she could or not. Or else, the Fire Nation would take Ba Sing Se and win the war.

She had to be brave.

So she gathered her courage and walked into the room.

Azula was sitting on the throne, as if she was the Earth Queen, wearing green and with one leg crossed over the other. She merely raised an eyebrow when she saw Katara arrive.

“Another half-breed?” She snarled, like a hyena-jackal. “My day couldn’t get more fun”

“Where’s the Earth King?” Katara demanded to know.

“He’ll be fine” Azula said. “Well, for as long as he’s useful. Then he will join your little southern waterbenders in the mass graves”

Katara gritted her teeth. Azula’s smile sent shivers down her spine. She was enjoying this. She enjoyed watching Katara suffer. A cat playing with a mouse. This was _fun_ for her.

“You won’t take Ba Sing Se” Katara took a step forward.

Azula made no intention to attack. She shrugged.

“I already did” She said. “I see, you came here thinking you could stop me” She smirked. “Well, it’s a shame, really. You’d be so much fun to play with”

Katara realized she didn’t know what to say or what to do. Azula didn’t want to fight and there was no reasoning with her. Should she attack her first?

In that moment, two girls in Kyoshi Warrior uniform showed up, and for a second Katara thought they would take down Azula. But as they got closer, she recognized them, and her blood went cold. The girl with the knives and the one who could take bending away.

Realization dawned to her. The Kyoshi Warriors were never in Ba Sing Se. It was Azula all along.

“If I were you, I would bow down and swear loyalty to the Fire Nation in this moment” Azula said, lazily inspecting her nails. “I’m being generous! You’re a firebender, even if you’re a half-breed. I could reduce you to ashes right now, but I’m giving you a chance to show loyalty to your Nation”

“I’m not Fire Nation” Katara said. She clenched her fists. She’d rather die. “I’m not bowing to you”

“Well, what _are_ you going to do, then?” Azula asked. “You’re not doing anything to stop me right now. But, I mean, I understand. I wouldn’t want to get incinerated either. I’ve seen it before, and it’s not pretty” She smirked. “Well, not for the one getting burned, at least. But watching my father give my brother what he deserved must have been the best day in my life. Do you want to know what it looks like?” She stood up and started descending the steps that led to the throne. Katara felt nauseous. His father…? “The skin all around his eye was sticky and melting, that’s why he’s half blind now” Katara didn’t want to listen anymore. As Azula approached, she felt her palms burning. Azula raised an eyebrow. “Don’t look at me like that! We both know how good it feels to watch someone you hate get what they deserve”

“I’m not like you” Katara stated. “I wouldn’t wish that to my worst enemy”

“Of course you wouldn’t” Azula mocked. “You want to burn me right now! You think I’m a horrible person, don’t you? You may even think you’re better than me” She stood face to face with Katara. They were the same height. Katara took a step back. “But you don’t admit that to yourself. You’re so scared of everyone seeing what a fraud you are. You’re so disgusted by your own firebending you think you’re a monster and your family is scared of you, so you try so hard to be better than us” That cruel smirk was back. “But we both know deep down how much you want to burn me right now”

Katara did. Yes, she wanted to burn Azula for doing this to her, for bringing all her fears to the surface when she was trying to be brave. Her hands hurt from the heat and the itch to just set her on fire for everything she was doing. For taking over Ba Sing Se, for chasing them all over the world, for laughing at Zuko’s pain and trying to kill him, for trying to take Aang from her.

Azula was disgusting.

Maybe she _deserved_ to get burned.

A punch of fire towards Azula that was easily avoided by the Princes moving aside, and then a brutal arch of blue knocked Katara to the ground in one movement.

“Come on, you’re just proving me right” Azula sneered. “You’re not as good and pure as you think you are”

Katara quickly rose to her feet. The two girls in Kyoshi Warrior costumes took a step forward, but Azula stopped them with a sign of her hand.

“I’ve been itching for a good fight all day” She said.

Blue fire raced towards Katara, and she quickly dispersed it with her own yellowish orange fire. She responded with a kick near the ground that made Azula jump back before striking with a sharp flame that Katara nearly didn’t evade. The sudden movement made her trip down back on the floor.

“You’re making this too easy” Azula complained. “I know you can get angrier”

Katara kicked from the ground and sent an arch of fire towards Azula, but she dismissed it with only one hand. She was just getting up when Azula blew a cold-blooded blaze, and instead of knocking it, Katara took hold of it and twisted it behind her to redirect it back towards the Princess, now a bright orange.

This seemed to surprise her, and despite dispersing it, the impact made her take a step back. Katara didn’t wait for her to recover and instead opted for an actual firebending move, a strong fireball towards Azula.

This was for trying to take Aang from her! How dare she try to take him!?

Azula tried to create a shield of fire, but Katara raised a wave of fire that drowned the blue flame and nearly swallowed the Princess. She couldn’t disperse this attack— the fire moved like a liquid, not like a flame— and she ended up in the ground.

She stood up suddenly. The two other girls made a movement to try to help, but Azula dismissed them again.

“You’re going to pay for this, peasant”

The next attack was brutal, a wall of scorching blue. Katara fell to the ground. Azula’s fire lashed through the air. She didn’t get the chance to stand up. She desperately tried to disperse the fire before it touched her.

She tried to spin, like she’d seen Zuko do so many times, but her fire barely reached Azula. A violent kick of fire rendered all her efforts useless.

She couldn’t lose. She couldn’t lose to Azula, she couldn’t—!

“Go say hello to your mother!”

A wall of fire rose above her and her heart stopped. This was where she died. This was the end, at the hands of a firebender just like her mother.

She tried to redirect it or disperse it, but it was too much and all her efforts were useless. She was going to die.

And then the wall descended on her.

A sudden wind roared through the Throne Room and blew the fire away. The blinding light spilled away. Katara blinked.

“It’s me who you’re after, Azula” Zuko’s voice echoed in the throne room. “Leave her out of this”

“Well, look who just decided to show up” Azula scoffed. “I’ve been worried about you”

Katara got to her feet with some difficulty. Zuko was glaring at Azula, holding his broadswords.

“You’ve never cared about me”

“Believe it or not, I do” Azula continued. “You’ve been away for so long. It gets lonely”

“You tried to kill me!” He aimed his left sword towards Azula.

“And I was wrong” Azula said. She now looked genuinely apologetic, and that sent all the alarms flaring in Katara’s head. It was a trap. “I understand now. You may be a half-breed airbender, but you’re still the prince. If I wanted you have you killed, I wouldn’t have wasted time coming all the way to Ba Sing Se” she took a step closer. Katara stood next to Zuko. “I came here to take you home. This time for real. Things are complicated in the Fire Nation right now and Father wants you by his side”

Zuko lowered his sword.

“You’re lying”

“I’m not!” Azula reassured him. “You know the Earth Kingdom better than anyone else in the Royal Family. You’re invaluable right now”

“Zuko, you know she’s lying” Katara said. “Ever since she showed up, she’s been trying to kill you”

“Why don’t you let him think on his own” Azula scolded her, as if she was a little girl. “What have _you_ done for him? What does he owe you?” She turned to her brother. “I need you, Zuko. If you help me now, we will accomplish what no other general or Fire Lord has ever done before. We can put an end to this war _today_”

Azula didn’t want to end the war. She wanted to win it.

“And by the time we go back, we will be welcomed as heroes” she said. “You will have everything you ever wanted. Your honor, Father’s love… even as an airbender. _Everything_ will be forgiven”

Zuko’s shoulders shook, almost imperceptivity, and Katara felt her stomach drop.

No.

He didn’t believe her, did he?

The worst part was that even Katara herself believed Azula. They would take Ba Sing Se and win the war. They _would_ become heroes in the Fire Nation.

Her offer was real.

“Zuko…”

He looked at her startled like a deer-hare, and the pain in his eyes filled Katara with fear.

He opened his mouth to say something.

And in that moment the palace shook, shards of glass and stone crumbing down from the ceiling. Everyone took a step back just in time before it collapsed under the weight of Appa.

With the help of Toph’s earthbending, of course.

Aang immediately descended with his glider. Azula sent lighting in his direction, but it was weak with emotion and he could avoid it easily.

“Katara!” He shouted once he reached her. “Are you okay? Your clothes are smoking!”

She raised her sleeve to see the smoke scrolls coming from the blackened fabric. She was going to need new clothes.

“I’m okay” She looked at Azula. “We’re too late”

When she looked for Zuko, she couldn’t see him anywhere.

No, no…

The two girls dressed in Kyoshi costumes were free from Azula’s order to stay aside now, and didn’t hesitate to attack. A dagger flew towards them. Aang kicked the ground and a small pillar rose to block it.

“What do we do now?” He asked.

“We have to find the Earth King”

“Katara, I…”

Tongues of blue flames traveled towards them. Aang pushed them away with his staff.

Azula had her eyes set on them.

Her kicks and punches were quick as lightning, sending blazes of sharp fire. Katara dispersed them and blocked them with her own fire. Aang brandished his staff and tried to blow Azula away.

But then three plates of rock rose from the ground to encase him. He quickly broke free with earthbending, but the sight of the Dai Li approaching them made Katara’s blood go cold.

The earth gloves flew towards them. Aang could hit one of them, but the other was racing quickly towards Katara.

A flash of metal and the rock crumbled to pieces. Sokka’s boomerang gave a turn in the air and flew straight back to his hand.

“Katara!” He called. “We have to go!”

More Dai Li showed up, as if appearing from thin air. They were surrounding them. Sokka and Toph were fighting off the two girls in Kyoshi costumes. One of them could take bending away. If they… if they got too close…

“We have to find the Earth King!” Katara shouted.

Blue fire was blown directly on her face. She flinched and instinctively raised her arms. A wall of red fire swallowed it.

“You’re not escaping me this time!” Azula roared. She was different. Angrier. Offended. Emotional.

Ruthless kicks and ruthless fire that rose with every heavy breath. Katara countered the attacks with her own punches. Shields of red and pillars of blue. Her muscles ached. Her skin was covered in blisters.

She took a heavy breath and Azula took this opening to strike. Katara jumped back just in time. She didn’t know for how long she could keep this going.

She still couldn’t see Zuko.

Her stomach dropped when she saw what Azula was doing.

She moved her hands forming an arch, with a blue spark following her index and middle finger. She could barely control it, but she smiled hysterically at Katara anyways.

She then looked at Aang.

No.

No!

She couldn’t let her hurt Aang. Not again!

She raised her arms. She was too far away. Her fire was weak.

She couldn’t do it.

It was over.

Azula aimed to fingers at Aang. White lighting cut an arch through the Throne Room.

No!

An orange flash. Something flew in front of her. Her heart gave a violent leap.

Aang was knocked away from the lightning. He dropped to the floor unwounded.

Zuko dropped the glider to help him to his feet.

“Are you okay?” Katara heard him ask.

She couldn’t help but smile.

“I knew Uncle was a traitor” Azula sneered. “But you, brother? I expected more from you”

“Leave them alone, Azula” Zuko demanded. “This is madness”

“I knew you’d be too weak for this” She said. “I don’t know why I bother. Well, have it your way”

She made a gesture and the Dai Li moved. Katara turned just in time to avoid the earth gloves. Aang and Zuko jumped to avoid them.

“Katara!” Sokka shouted. He was on top of Appa now. “We have to go _now_!”

“Not without the Earth King!”

“Katara, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Aang said. He smacked away an earth glove flying in his direction. “The Earth King is dead”

Her heart sank, but Katara didn’t have the time to feel bad.

“We can’t let them take Ba Sing Se!” She insisted.

“We’re outnumbered” Zuko argued. “We can’t beat them right now”

Katara couldn’t believe he was saying that. He was learning from Aang. Perhaps way too much.

Another lightning. They didn’t even have to move away. Azula missed then completely.

The Dai Li were multiplying. Rock rose from the ground and wrecked the Throne Room’s floor. The girl who could block Chi seemed to have left Toph out of combat. She was clinging to Sokka’s arm on Appa’s saddle.

They couldn’t leave. They couldn’t give up.

But there was nothing else they could do.

She closed her eyes tight. She should have been able to do _something_.

But she followed Aang. They ran across the room dodging rock and fire and daggers.

Zuko wasn’t moving. He stood there observing Appa. He looked at his sister.

“Zuko!” Katara called him. “What are you doing!?”

He couldn’t betray them. He was doing so _good_. He couldn’t join her now!

She would kill him!

He looked at Katara.

“I…”

“Don’t leave me now, Zuko!” Azula demanded. “This is a glorious day in Fire Nation history! Just think about what Father would say when he sees you!”

Zuko swallowed. Katara couldn’t stop staring at him.

“Zuko, come with us” She almost begged.

He looked down.

His father wanted him dead.

He glared at Azula.

And then he took Katara’s hand.

She gripped his wrist tightly, almost scared that he would change his mind and leave, but they ran together towards Appa decisively and in a straight line. He jumped on top of the bison and helped Katara up with his airbending.

Azula bellowed like an animal and send a third merciless lightning in their way.

Out of frantic terror, Katara raised her arms. A monstrous wave of fire rose from the ground. She pushed it forward and it ran over Azula and her Dai Li, a scorching heat drying the stone and leaking into the cracks like lava.

Appa cried out in fear. Fear of fire. He didn’t wait to be told he could go. He jumped and flew out of the hole in the ceiling, shattering it further and quickly leaving the palace behind.

One last lightning was shot towards the sky. Appa soared into the night above Ba Sing Se.

Katara leaned on the edge of the new saddle and looked down at the city. The Dai Li were breaking into houses and dragging out functionaries and noblemen from King Kuei’s government. Someone dropped a brown animal on the steps of the palace. The bear left a trail of red behind it.

She quickly looked away.

“We have to go back for my uncle!” Zuko exclaimed. “We can’t leave him here!”

Without any arguing, Aang steered Appa to give a heavy turn and fly down towards the Upper Ring.

That’s when Katara saw it.

Nor far from the palace, angry red tongues of fire devoured a building like a hungry animal.

The Jasmine Dragon was burning.

“He can’t be inside” Zuko said. “They must have taken him prisoner” He seemed to remember something. He looked at Aang. “Take us to that lake, in the Agrarian Zone”

風

Toph and Aang managed to bend all the earth and water necessary to break into the dungeons under Lake Laogai. They climbed down the ladder and walked down the dark hallways. The only light there was came from the glowing crystals, a dim green color.

“I’m Joo Dee” A man’s voice came from one of the cells. “Welcome to Ba Sing Se”

“I’m Joo Dee” A chorus of women replied. “Welcome to Ba Sing Se”

Zuko felt shivers down his spine.

“This is where I found Appa” He explained. “This is where they must be keeping Uncle”

But Uncle wasn’t there. They looked everywhere, checked every cell and every hall. Zuko was starting to grow desperate. If he wasn’t there, then where was he? What did they do to him?

Fear clutched his heart. Uncle was the only family he had left. He couldn’t lose him. The idea brought tears to his eyes.

In the last cell, they didn’t find Uncle, but they found someone else.

Long Feng, the leader of the Dai Li, had been locked up by his own people.

Long Feng used to rule Ba Sing Se, pulling the strings behind an ignorant King. Now Azula occupied his place.

Zuko retreated before Long Feng saw him through the window of his cell door. There was no use in talking to him.

Uncle wasn’t there.

But they saw the Dai Li agents walking down halls, passing through doors and leaving cells, and it was only a matter of time before they saw them.

The now five children climbed on top of Appa’s new saddle and parted into the sky, with hands and hearts empty and feeling more lost than ever.

The Earth Kingdom had fallen, and they had taken the last of Zuko’s family with it.

風

“So, you’re joining us?” Sokka’s question sounded more like a statement.

Zuko shrugged. They were sitting around a little campfire, Aang and Toph leaning against Appa while Katara tended to the fire and Sokka counted their belongings. They didn’t get to bring much with them, but the most important things had been stored in Appa’s new saddle since they found him, out of habit. He couldn’t bring any money from the Jasmine Dragon, but they still had at least two dozen gold pieces.

Really, all he brought with him were his swords, his knife and his clothes.

“I guess so” he replied after a moment. I don’t have anywhere else to go”

“I don’t think anyone has anywhere left to go” Toph said. “We’re fugitives, now that Ba Sing Se has fallen”

Once a prince. Now all he had were two swords and a scar.

Katara and Aang looked particularly defeated. They weren’t talking at all.

Sokka finished counting all they had: two dozen gold pieces with some silver and copper pieces, food for five people that should last for about three days, Zuko’s swords, Aang’s staff, his boomerang, Katara’s necklace (very important), half a dozen teabags, four bedrolls (they needed to get one for Zuko), two changes of clothes each (except for Zuko), Appa’s new saddle, an empty waterskin, some parchment and charcoal (no ink) and a good quality rope that was too short to be useful.

“I’m starting the shopping list” He announced, taking a piece of charcoal and some parchment. “Does anyone want anything?”

No one spoke. Zuko looked at Katara through the fire. Her hair was down. He had never seen her with her hair down before. Aang was next to her, staring at the ground.

“Okay. One bedroll for Zuko and some new clothes. We need some vegetarian food for Aang and some real food for the rest of us. Do you guys think we can afford two tents?”

“Getting a teapot would be nice” Zuko mumbled.

Sokka looked at him for a moment.

“A teapot it is, then” he added it to the list.

“Oh! Can we get a portable Pai-Sho board?” Toph asked.

“I’ll see how the budget goes”

Aang and Katara still didn’t say anything. It was stupid to ask if they were okay, because they clearly weren’t.

She sat back and observed the flames.

“What are we going to do now?” She asked. “The Earth Kingdom has fallen. We won’t be able to organize the invasion on our own”

“Invasion?” Zuko asked.

Everyone froze and stared at him. It was clear he wasn’t supposed to know that.

So, they were planning an invasion on the Fire Nation.

“I think we can tell him guys” Aang said. It was the first time he spoke since leaving Ba Sing Se. “He _did_ come with us, after all”

Sokka didn’t look so sure, but he sighed with resignation and explained the Day of Black Sun plan. No sun, no firebenders. They could put an end to everything in just three short months from that moment.

All they wanted was to end the war.

Zuko couldn’t say he opposed them.

“We needed the Earth King’s support to do that” He finished. “But seeing as he’s out of the picture now…”

“I see” Zuko said. “Isn’t there anyone else? What about the Water Tribes?”

“We have no idea where our father is” Katara explained. “And I don’t think the Northern Water Tribe likes us much. Besides they’ve stayed out of the war for over a century. Why would they change their minds now?”

Zuko blinked.

“Your father?”

“He’s the chief” Sokka said. “He left about three years ago to fight and we haven’t seen him ever since”

Oh.

Sometimes it was easy to forget, well, _everything_ that had happened to them.

“Just because Ba Sing Se has fallen, it doesn’t mean the Earth Kingdom has fallen” Toph supplied. “Since when has the Earth Kingdom responded to Ba Sing Se? I mean, Omashu had a whole _king _of its own”

“She’s right” Zuko agreed. “The power is not very centralized. There’s no reason why we wouldn’t find people to fight”

No one seemed very encouraged, except for maybe Sokka, who stood up with a map made of sealskin parchment in his hands and said:

“We need a plan”

Crickets.

“We can’t go back to Ba Sing Se, but we still need to strike in three months from now” He turned to Toph. “Toph, you lived all your life in the Earth Kingdom. Do you know what cities have big militias? Or where would they offer the most resistance to the Fire Nation?”

Toph shrugged.

“Why are you asking _me_? I never went outside my family’s estate until I met you guys”

“What about the Kyoshi Warriors?” Katara suggested. “Do you think they could still be at Full Moon’s bay?”

“It’s worth a shot” Sokka said. “If only we could find dad…”

They didn’t have much food so they went to sleep hungry that night. Since they didn’t have a bedroll for Zuko, they decided they would take turns to keep watch. Four bedrolls would be enough.

Zuko offered to keep watch first, but Sokka, perhaps out of mistrust, told him to go sleep. He could keep watch.

Aang bent water on the fire to extinguish it and four of the kids went to sleep.

Zuko was too hungry, too cold and too scared for his Uncle to sleep at all. A few hours later, Sokka kicked him in the ribs and told him it was his turn. He now stayed awake sitting on top of Appa instead of lying down in the bedroll.

They had set camp in a clearing in the forest at southeast of Ba Sing Se. They had thought it’d be safer with the trees hiding them.

Zuko couldn’t believe it.

In only one day, he had nearly been killed, had lost Uncle, had been offered in a silver plate everything he ever wanted and he refused it all just to go with the Avatar. And the strangest part was that he didn’t regret a thing, other than leaving Uncle behind.

He felt freer than he had ever been, actually.

He understood now. He didn’t need to capture the Avatar. He didn’t need to do _anything_. He didn’t even need to go home. He needed to do what was _right_. Helping him end the war came first.

It was like something unlocking in his chest. A burden being lifted from his shoulders.

He didn’t need to hide. He was an airbender. He even had an airbending teacher! And he… he cared about him, right? It did feel like he did.

Aang had left his staff on Appa’s saddle. He took it carefully in his hands. The artifact was beautiful. He wondered how he had ever been scared of it.

He was an airbender. He had used the glider to save Aang. That’s who he was. Not the Fire Prince, not a firebender. He was an airbender and Aang thought he could bring the Air Nomads back. And if that was what Aang needed from him… Then he could do it. He’d be happy to do it.

He didn’t know if he was happy. Ba Sing Se had fallen. Azula had won. Uncle was missing.

He glanced at his new friends. Friends? He had friends.

But this was… well, it was really nice. He just wished Uncle was with him.

Katara woke up a few hours later on her own. She climbed on top of Appa. Zuko offered her a hand, and she accepted it.

“Can’t sleep?” He asked.

She shook her head.

“After everything that’s happened…” her shoulder dropped.

“It’s okay. I couldn’t sleep either”

They both sat cross legged on the big saddle. The sky was moonless and starless that night.

Katara held the tiniest flame in her palm, just a little candlelight. It wasn’t angry or aggressive or violent like all the other firebender he saw around him. It was calm and comforting and warm. It illuminated her face in the darkness.

Zuko thought her little fire was adorable.

“Why did you do it?” She asked after a heartbeat.

He didn’t need to ask what she meant. He knew.

“Azula always lies” He told her. “You were right. She just wanted to capture me so that she could kill me”

Katara observed him.

“She offered you everything you ever wanted”

“I’m not sure I want it anymore” He said. “I don’t know if it’s worth everything that I’ve done”

“Are you sorry?”

He swallowed. Her blue eyes were staring into his very spirit.

He nodded.

“I am” He said. “I’m sorry I chased you guys all over the world. I thought I had no other choice”

“Because you couldn’t go home?” She asked.

He nodded reluctantly.

“Capturing the Avatar was the only way my father would restore my honor” He explained. “When I was thirteen, my father banished me for speaking out of turn. He gave me this” He gestured at his scar. “He told me I would only be allowed to go back if I brought the Avatar with me”

The fire fluttered. Katara’s eyes were full of horror.

“Your father did that to you?”

He nodded.

“I used to think I deserved it” He said. “Now I understand it was wrong”

She placed her free hand on his forearm and squeezed.

“I’m glad you do” She said. “I can’t believe he—!” She shook her head. “How could someone be so cruel to his own son?”

Zuko didn’t know how to reply. He didn’t know. He really didn’t know. He was still trying to understand why that’d happened to him.

He was just glad he didn’t break down crying this time.

“I…” He licked his lips. “I know my destiny now. I’m going to help you end the war”

“I’m really happy to hear that” Katara confessed. “When Aang first suggested that you joined us, I was against it. But now that I see you’ve changed…”

Zuko could hold back the little smile.

“He wanted me to join you?”

“He did. I think… he sees you as the last of his people, so…” She shrugged. “Whenever we visit an Air Temple, I can tell he’s in so much pain. He lost more than anyone else”

Zuko couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt. He wasn’t even alive when it happened, but the crimes of his forefathers still haunted the world a hundred years after.

It wasn’t just his destiny to stop it, but his duty.

“I think… he wants you to become an Air Nomad” She told him.

Zuko swallowed.

“I’ll do everything I can to help him restore balance” He simply said.

Katara gave him a strange look, pity mixed with sadness and something that looked like disapproval.

“I could never stop being Water Tribe” She said. “I don’t care what element I bend”

“It’s easy for you” Zuko said. “The Water Tribes didn’t start a war”

Katara pressed her lips into a thin smile.

“I guess you’re right”

They both glanced at Aang. He was cuddling Momo in his bedroll, clutching one of the few remnants of his people close to his heart.

His heart broke at the sight. Aang almost always looked happy and cheerful, but now that he was asleep, he just looked sad.

“I’m glad you decided to join us” Katara confessed. “You’re not as much of a jerk as I thought”

“Well, thank you” Zuko replied sarcastically.

“You’re only kind of a jerk” Katara gave him a teasing smile. Her fire fluttered. “But seriously, before you and your Uncle, I used to think the Fire Nation was all bad. I’m glad I was wrong”

“You’re not wrong for being angry” he said. “The Fire Nation hurt you”

_I hurt you_, he wanted to add, but he didn’t.

Katara nodded.

“They took my mother from me” She said.

“I’m sorry” Zuko muttered. “They took my mother, too”

Katara blinked. Zuko realized with a shiver just how much about his past he was revealing to this girl in just one day.

“I think she left to protect me” Zuko explained. “I don’t know where she went”

“I’m sorry” it was Katara’s turn to show sympathy. “My mother… She was killed during a raid to our village when I was eight. They came for the last waterbender, and my parents always thought I was a bender, even before I bent any element. So my mother…”

Her voice cracked, and the sound made Zuko’s heart jump.

“She died for me” She finished. “Even though I ended up a… a firebender”

She said it as if it was a bad word. Zuko had grown up hearing words like ‘Waterbender’ or ‘Airbender’ being thrown around as disgusting insults. He guessed Katara had been raised in a similar way, hating the Fire Nation.

Except that she was right for doing so.

They were looking for a waterbender, and her mother died for a firebender.

Zuko thought he understood what she meant. Her mother had died for nothing. Except she didn’t.

“I’m glad you’re here today” He said without thinking much, and upon realizing what he’d just said, he rushed to add: “I’m not glad your mother…! You know— never mind”

Katara didn’t say anything for a moment. Zuko cursed himself mentally for being so stupid.

“I just… I didn’t want her death to be in vain” She muttered.

Zuko really didn’t want to make her feel bad. He desperately tried to think of something to say to comfort her.

He wasn’t good at comforting with words.

“It wasn’t in vain” Zuko found himself saying, convinced it wasn’t the right thing to say but unable to think of anything else. “I’m sorry my people did that to you. Your mother sounds like a great woman”

A single tear ran down her cheek, reflecting the warm light of the fire. It dawned to Zuko that he had never seen a firebender cry. He didn’t know what tears looked like at the light of fire. It was a scary thought.

“She was” Katara whispered. She quickly wiped the tear away. “I was supposed to be a waterbender. Everyone said I was the last hope for Southern Waterbenders. And now…” She shook her head. “I couldn’t be what my people needed”

“That’s not your fault” Zuko said.

Katara looked down.

“It only got harder after my mother’s death” she said. “I had never bent before. I was starting to think I was a non-bender, so when she sacrificed herself because of… of an assumption…” She swallowed. “And then my father left to fight, and I was left to take care of everyone”

“What about your brother?”

Katara scoffed.

“Sokka was the one I took care of the most” She said. “He can’t cook or sew clothes to save his life”

Zuko thought it was pretty unfair. Katara had a lot of weight on her shoulders.

“That doesn’t sound right”

“Tell me about it” Katara sighed. “Thank you”

Zuko blinked.

“For what?”

“For listening. I never really talked about this with anyone” She confessed. “I was always so busy making sure everyone was okay that…”

“That no one tried to be there for you”

She wiped a tear away.

“I wouldn’t say _no one_ is ever there for me. Sokka and Aang have helped me a lot deal with my firebending”

But Zuko could tell she needed a little more. He could tell she was tired.

He decided he’d make sure to never be the one to make her tired. He’d even try to take some of the weight off her shoulders when he could.

Zuko glanced at the other three members of their group, sleeping on the ground.

“You never talked about all of this with your brother?”

“I never told him everything” She said. “Not about how I’ve felt about my mother ever since I discovered I’m a firebender”

What could he say? Your mother would be proud of you? He didn’t know. For all he knew, Katara could turn around and say that her mother saw firebenders the way his father saw airbenders. So he opted for something a little bit safer.

“It sounds like she loved you a lot”

The fire grew smaller and redder.

“I wonder if she would love me the same if she knew what I was”

Zuko didn’t know her mother, and he had agreed not to say what he wanted to say just a minute before, but he said it anyways:

“I’m sure she would”

The fire grew smaller and smaller. Above their heads, a patch of universe could be seen through the clouds. Millions of baby fires observing them from the sky.

火

They continued getting further away from Ba Sing Se the next morning.

No one had a set destination yet, it seemed, except for Appa, who kept flying southeast without listening to Aang’s questions.

“What is it, buddy?” He asked. “Where are you taking us?”

He turned to Sokka, who showed him the sealskin map. Katara looked over his shoulder to see where he was pointing to.

The Eastern Air temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was a wild ride. And now Zuko is part of the gaang! How cool is that?  
I love writing this. I really love it.  
Zuko, Aang and Katara still have a long way to go, both individually and as a... triad? what do you call a couple with three people? I'll figure it out later. But we're getting to the heart of the matter!  
Thank you to everyone who read this. It means a lot.  
Don't forget to comment! See you for next chapter!  
And about next chapter: I wanted to know if any of you had some suggestions for the title. You see, I name chapters after song titles, and I want the chapter titles in this fic to be somewhat element-related. We had "Watermark", we had "Sing for the Wind", we have "Sticks and Stones" (that's Chapter 4), but I can't find a song with a fire related title that fits. I was thinking about "Sunlight" by Hozier, but I don't know if it goes with the story, as cool as the song is. So if anyone knows of a song with a title that somewhat related to fire, candles, the sun, warmth, day, light etc please drop a comment with your suggestion! It would mean a lot.


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